GMercyU's Respiratory Care Program Awarded Prestigious APEX Award

The faculty of Gwynedd Mercy University’s Respiratory Care Program is proud to announce that the Program has received the American Association for Respiratory Care’s (AARC) APEX Award for 2023-2024.

Per the AARC, this designation exemplifies the best practices in the professional education of respiratory therapists and demonstrates that GMercyU's program enhances the quality of patient care and elevates the respiratory therapy profession.

“This is an accomplishment that the faculty is truly proud of and is an affirmation of the hard work that our entire program’s partners have invested. Our students, faculty, clinical affiliates, preceptors, Advisory Committee, and University administration all had a part in earning this designation.” said Program Coordinator, Randy Solly, MS, RRT, RPFT.

Gwynedd Mercy University’s Respiratory Care Program is one of 11 schools out of more than 400 programs in the country to receive the APEX award, meeting stringent quality and educational criteria.

Facets of the program that were evaluated included: qualifications and advanced certifications of faculty, exceptionally high credential pass rates, evidence-based teaching strategies, research methodologies, community service activities, and interdisciplinary education and simulation.

Professor Solly further stated, “This was a group effort and could not have been achieved without the efforts of past and current faculty including, Bill Galvin, Barb Schuster, Tom Lamphere, Melissa Thornborough and Melissa Ash. The faculty felt that we met the requirements for the award and we are truly thankful that our Director of Clinical Education, Melissa Thornborough, BHS, RRT, RRT-ACCS, AE-C, did the amount of work needed to complete and submit the application.”