BC Respiratory Therapists & Patients - Workforce Shortage Impact

Last week I shared that British Columbia ranks last among Canadian provinces for respiratory therapists per capita. Several of you asked: how is that possible? Here's the honest answer - and it's more complicated than it first appears. BC has exactly one publicly funded Respiratory Therapy training program. One! For the entire province. It graduates approximately 35 students per year from Kamloops - meaning if you live on the coast or in the Fraser Valley, this career requires leaving your community for three years, if you can even get in. TRU, like every BC public institution, has had domestic tuition capped at 2% annually since 2007 - well-intentioned, but it hasn't kept pace with the real cost of running equipment-intensive clinical programs. Simulation labs, ventilators, specialist faculty - none of this comes cheap. The result: one program, in one city, constrained by funding pressures, while demand keeps growing. BC reported 104 vacant RT positions in 2021. Projections estimate 600 unfilled by 2027. Nearly 20% of Canada's RTs are already over 50. And BC would need to nearly double its RT workforce just to reach the Canadian average of 32 per 100,000 - we sit at roughly 17–18. RTs manage ICU ventilators, care for premature newborns, support seniors with COPD and aspiration pneumonia, and keep surgical suites running. COVID-19 put them on the front page for a moment. But the shortage predates the pandemic, and it hasn't improved since. We're still running on one program. I am working on a project focused on health workforce solutions in BC - and the more I learn, the more surprised I get. Workforce planning is complex, with many intersections that a system built on silos makes harder to navigate. I haven't got to the root of it just yet - though I think I'm getting close to that final "why." The most important part of getting there is learning from the people actually living this - so please, keep sharing. More to come. But I'd love to hear from RTs, health authority leaders, or anyone navigating this as a patient or with a loved one - what's the impact the data doesn't capture? 👇 #RespiratoryTherapy #AlliedHealth #BCHealthcare #HealthWorkforce #HealthHumanResources #PostSecondaryEducation #HealthPolicy #WorkforceDevelopment #HealthcareBC