Respiratory Therapist of the Year!

Spotlight: April Brejcha, CRT.

Retiring this year from her 43-year career at Alomere Health, April was given the 2022 Respiratory Therapist of the Year award from the Minnesota Society for Respiratory Care. “That was a total surprise,” says April. Yet to anyone who knows her, it was an honor many years in the making.

Early Years

Her first experience with health care came at an early age when she volunteered at the hospital in her early teens. The Health Occupations Program offered through Jefferson High School gave her even more insight. Health care agreed with her, so she enrolled at Anoka Technical College to get a certification in respiratory therapy. She finished school on a Friday, and started at Alomere the following Monday—and stayed for over four decades.

Core Values

Over the years, April has seen a lot of change. The department’s technology has improved dramatically, and the size of the hospital has grown as well. Yet she is quick to point out, that the values that make a good team don’t change, “Everyone here really knows their jobs and can be counted on in an emergency–which is important, because one minute you’re working on routine therapy for a patient, and the next you’re responding to a code blue in the ER.” This trust built over the years has made her friendships with colleagues very close. Teaching CPR has also allowed her to make a lot of friends in the community. And yet, those friendships made it difficult to do her job during COVID.

Retirement Plans

In retirement, April has plans to spend more time with her family, a road trip this fall with close friends, and hopes for touring Alaska next year. She’ll stay active if her husband’s retirement is any indicator of their commitment to the community. “He has 7 part-time jobs,” says April, “a first responder here in Alex, a safety officer at a construction company, he oversees security for the local race track, drives semi-trucks, teaches policing at Alex Tech, he’s on the Fair’s board, and works as a security guard at Alomere Health one day a week.” April is happy her husband is so industrious, because when he was pursuing his degree in law enforcement, “That’s when we first met, he had a job driving the ambulance here at the hospital.”