MLA Trevor Holder, seated, Dr. Kathy Hamer, UNB Saint John and Mr. Peter McGill, NBCC-Saint John, signed the agreement.

January 21, 2004
UNB Saint John News Release: M-04-006
Kara Stonehouse, Sr. Mgr Marketing & Communications (506) 648-5889

The University of New Brunswick Saint John and the New Brunswick Community College Saint John have formalized an agreement that will see the institutions jointly offer a new Bachelor of Health Sciences degree program in respiratory therapy. The Memorandum of Understanding signed today will allow students to complete all the requirements for both a community college diploma and a university degree in just four and a half years.

"The New Brunswick government is very pleased to celebrate another exciting partnership between Saint John's two largest providers of post-secondary education - NBCC-Saint John and UNBSJ," said Trevor Holder, MLA for Saint John-Portland. Mr. Holder was on hand to represent the Honourable Margaret-Ann Blaney, Minister of Training and Employment Development with responsibility for the province's community college system.

"Partnerships such as the one we are celebrating today go a long way towards guaranteeing that health care workers in the Province of New Brunswick meet the highest professional standards," Mr. Holder added. "The government is pleased to play its part in this regard through its hospitals and community colleges, where students receive the professional training and practical experience components of the Bachelor of Health Sciences programs in nuclear medicine, radiography, radiation therapy and now respiratory therapy."

Kathryn Hamer, Vice-President for UNB Saint John, pointed out that UNB Saint John is a leader in offering innovative programs in partnership with colleges, hospitals and hospital schools.

"The articulated approach of this program will produce highly-skilled, highly-educated practitioners for this growing and all-important field," she said. "As technical jobs like respiratory therapy become more complex and as the practitioners in these professions are given more responsibility, the regulating bodies for many of these professions are adding university education to the requirement for certification and employment.

"I am quite certain that we will be seeing many more articulation agreements between universities and colleges, trade schools, and health care facilities as time goes on," Dr. Hamer added.

Peter McGill, Principal at NBCC-Saint John, pointed out that the 97-week diploma program offered at the community college had recently received formal accreditation from the Council on Accreditation for Respiratory Therapy Education (CoARTE).

"Students graduating from NBCC-Saint John and UNB Saint John will possess a very powerful set of credentials when entering the profession - an accredited diploma and a degree from a highly-respected university," he said. And the timing couldn't be better, he added, since experts are predicting a national shortage of respiratory therapists caused by retirements and parental leaves.

"Graduates of this program will be in high demand," said McGill, who also stated that many students aspiring to the profession will be able to complete their education more quickly than in the past, when they pursued a university degree before beginning the community college program.

According to the MOU, future respiratory therapists will enroll for their first year at UNB Saint John, during which they will take introductory courses in biology, chemistry, calculus, physics and psychology. They will then spend their second and third years obtaining intensive program-specific instruction and practice at NBCC-Saint John. The fourth year of the program is split, with the fall semester being offered at the community college and the winter term offered at the university. Students will then enroll in the final semester at UNB Saint John the following fall and will receive their Bachelor of Health Sciences degrees at the following spring convocation.

"Programs such as this one- and the other Bachelor of Health Sciences programs in nuclear medicine, radiation therapy and radiography — illustrate once again that UNB Saint John is tuned into the needs of this province," Dr. Hamer pointed out in her comments. Our graduates will be the health professionals who touch the lives of New Brunswickers in the most profound ways through their skill, their caring and their dedication. That's how UNB does, and will, make a significant difference in this province."

Students interested in more information on the new Bachelor of Health Sciences degree program in respiratory therapy - or those in nuclear medicine, radiography and radiation therapy - are welcome to contact the Liaison Office at UNB Saint John, tellmemore@unbsj.ca, 648-5863 or 1-877-SJFORME (753-6763).

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