Respiratory therapy graduates save USI employee's life
Tami Jaramillo Zuniga, center, poses with USI respiratory therapy students
USI Public Safety officers are used to helping others, but sometimes, the tables are turned. When Tami Jaramillo Zuniga, staff sergeant, needed help, USI respiratory therapist graduates came to her aid.
On August 18, Jaramillo Zuniga had a major anaphylactic reaction following a bee sting she received while in Warrick County. "When I arrived at the hospital, my airway was closing, and I had to be intubated and placed on life support," she said. "Those life-saving measures were performed by graduates from our USI Respiratory Therapy (RT) Program. The entire time I was in the hospital, all the RTs I had were from USI."
Jaramillo Zuniga recovered and was able to meet a group of current RT students at the USI Wellness Fair on September 25. She thanked Wes Phy, chair of the RT Program, and the faculty for "having such a great program."
"The USI graduates at the hospital literally saved my life," she said.