2007 Legacy Award to

Jim Sills

Jill Sills pictured with ISRC 2006 President Pam Hatcher (r) and President Elect Lynn Harms (l)

2006 Legacy Award Recipient
Rick Fleming RRT

Rick Fleming, RRT - 2006 Legacy Award Winner

By Deborah Linhart, BS, RRT, AE-C

His mother, a nurse at University of Chicago Hospital, told him of a guy at work who was coming around talking about the new, emerging field of Inhalation Therapy. She suggested that instead of becoming an optometrist he might want to check it out. So Rick Fleming came in and talked with Bill Morrison, enrolled, and graduated from the Inhalation Therapy Program at U of C in 1970.

Rick became ARIT # 1331 and briefly taught at U of C. In 1971 he landed the job of Head Therapist at Northwestern and was later promoted to Technical Director of Respiratory Therapy.

Rick moved to Ingalls Community Hospital in 1974, where he remained for 21 years. Rick began with a department almost completely staffed with on-the-job trainees. He initiated staff development and education as well as a clinical affiliation with MVCC to effect transition to a professional department. His staff was already implementing Intensive Care Ventilator Protocols in the late 1970's. During his tenure there he was not only responsible for Respiratory Care, but also for Clinical Neurophysiology and the development of the Cardio-Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Sleep Lab programs, nurturing professional growth of interested respiratory therapists into these emerging fields.

An active member of the ISRC/AARC, Rick served as President of the ISRC 1985-1986. He was instrumental in guiding the Society through a complete restructuring from a cumbersome system of two governing bodies to the current more efficient single governing body structure, as well as the name change from the ISRT to the ISRC. He also lead the society to achieve the first time a professional licensure bill passed the state house and senate. (Unfortunately the Governor did not sign the bill into law.) And during his term of office the ISRC produced their first ISCR/Respiratory Care recruitment video (twenty years ago!).

In 1995 Rick started working for Fitzsimmons as a Sales Territory Manager. This move occurred at the same time as the Respiratory Care Practice Act was going into effect. In response to the new requirement for CEUs, Rick began developing programs granting free CEUs, focusing on education, not just making a sale.

Rick currently works as a sales representative for Maquet demonstrating and selling Servo ventilators.

Rick has dedicated over 36 years to the development and promotion of Respiratory Care. He has been pioneer, innovator, mentor, educator, manager, businessman and visionary. And he has always been a sterling example of a Respiratory Care Professional.

Ray Kalinsky -
2005 Legacy Award Recipient

In 2005 the ISRC developed the Legacy Award to honor people who have significantly impacted the profession of Respiratory Care in Illinois. One of the first three Legacy Award recipients was Ray Kalinsky, Sr., a man who has spent over 40 years in Respiratory Care, and is still going strong.

Kalinsky started in 1961 when St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital trained him on-the-job as an oxygen orderly. Through hard work and perseverance Ray learned everything he could about the rapidly emerging field of Inhalation Therapy and it paid off. Before long he became the Director of Inhalation Therapy at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, a position he held for 25 years. Innovations to Respiratory Care he implemented during that time include starting the Respiratory Care Program at Moraine Valley Community College, and presenting the first "Huff 'n Puff" club in Chicagoland for patients with respiratory problems.

In 1987, Kalinsky founded Pulmonary Exchange, Ltd., of which he is President. In addition to providing staffing for hospitals, long-term care and home care, PEL also contracts to manage Respiratory Care departments and consult at long-term care facilities. Most recently, Kalinsky has developed VIP Education to help therapists achieve NBRC credentialing. Ray has been everything from a CPR instructor, to an oral examiner for the NBRC, to President of the American Society for Respiratory Care Administrators.

Kalinsky has been active in the ISRC from its' earliest days as the "Alpha Chapter" to the present. Having served in various positions, including Editor of the RESPIRATORY TRACT, he currently serves as the ISRC Treasurer.

Kalinsky states "Respiratory Care is one of the greatest fields there is because a person can do anything! If a person wants to remain in clinical care they can continue to learn and specialize in the area they enjoy most, or if they want to do other things, Respiratory Care can be an excellent steppingstone to areas such as business or education. In Respiratory Care, the only one who can limit you, is you." With an attitude like that, no wonder Ray Kalinsky, Sr. has had such a positive impact on Respiratory Care in Illinois.

Ray Lehner
2005 Legacy Award Recipient - Raymond F. Lehner

Raymond F. Lehner is a Professor Emeritus of Health Science from Moraine Valley Community College where he was Program Director of Respiratory Care for more than 34 years. He also served as 15 year Chairman of the Department of Allied Health as well as in innumerable capacities on various committees and projects including as a self-study committee chair for the Colleges initial accreditation through North Central Accreditation (NCA). Prior to coming to Moraine Valley, he was the Educational Director of the Respiratory Department at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois.

Working on local, state and national levels Ray Lehner has been keenly involved in a wide range of endeavors impacting in many areas. He is a longtime member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Society for Respiratory Care, serving on many committees, most recently serving as Chair of the Licensure and Legislative committee over the last 11 years. In 1995 he successfully secured sponsors in the Illinois House and Senate for a Respiratory Care Licensure Bill, which passed overwhelmingly and was signed into law. In front of the House Registration and Regulation Committee, he testified on behalf of an amendment he helped successfully introduce in 1997, He was heavily involved in the new Practice Act, which bestows full licensure on our profession. He testified to the Senate Licensure Activities Committee in March 2005. The Bill subsequently passed both Houses and was signed by the Governor on August 14.

In 1996, Governor Edgar appointed him to the new Respiratory Care Board of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Originally Vice-Chair, he has been named Chairman every year from 1997 to the present.

He has served as co-founder and Chair of the Illinois Council of Respiratory Therapy Education and also co-founder, Steering Committee member and Secretary of the National Respiratory Care Educators Network, Lehner performed in the capacity of on-site inspector consultant for the Joint Review Committee (JRCRTE) in cooperation with the Council of Allied Health Education and Accreditation of the American Medical Association. He was also an Associate Oral Examiner for the National Board for Respiratory Care and contracted item writer for the NBRC in conjunction with the Educational Testing Service.

In the 1970's, he served on a committee in the federally funded Area Health Education Study (AHES) administered by the University of Illinois. He was program chairman for the ISRC state convention and introduced the multiple speaker format and the first keynote speakers from out-of-state. He served as both moderator and judge of the ISRC knowledge bowl and played at national in 1981.

Probably the largest symposium on neonatal critical care in the nation, sponsored by the ISRC, has been organized and chaired by Ray Lehner for the last 6 years providing up to 24 CEUs for a single event. Another huge seminar "Asthma at the Millennium: Crossroads in Care" was sponsored by the Illinois Society for Respiratory Care, organized and chaired by him and hosted by Moraine Valley Community College. He has been a featured speaker at seminars, conferences and workshops too numerous to mention including last years ISRC state convention in June 2004. Last year he was interviewed extensively by the Chicago Tribune and was featured in an article appearing in January 2004. In 2003 he was featured (and pictured) in a Daily Southtown article describing a visit of very high-level dignitaries from China While in the United States, they visited Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Respiratory Program at Moraine Valley.

In addition, he has published numerous articles on a wide range of topics concerning professional, legislative, political and ethi-cal issues,

Moraine Valley Community College established an Academic Olympics team in 1995, which he agreed to coach and develop. During the two years he coached the team, they won every regional competition in both north and south regionals and finished 2nd overall in the entire state of Illinois both years.

At the Midwest Music Festival, Lehner just completed his 10th year as announcer. He is a member of the Lemont Sertoma and former Warden and Vestry Member of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration of Palos Park. He is a three-time recipient of the Presidents award for outstanding Officer in the Illinois Society for Respiratory Care. He has also received the Officer's Award, the Distinguished Service Award, the Special Service Award and the Outstanding Contribution Award.

Over his career he has also been a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Chicago Lung Association, the Educational Committee of the Cook County Heart Association, a Beacon Project Fellow with the Kellogg Foundation, consultant to the Ohio Board of Regents, a two-time VIP grant recipient from the Illinois State Board of Education and a moderator for State Finals in Academic Olympics.

Leona Penn