Student Experience: Dean Holland, RRT

“My sister graduated from El Centro with her associate degree in nursing and was very pleased with the education she received there. She suggested that I look into the Respiratory Care program.

"I researched the program and found it was highly recommended by previous grads and was financially affordable. It was important to me that I could go through this program without going into debt. The more I found out about the field and the program, the more interested I became. Having recently been a patient in the hospital, I believe what interested me the most was that I could help others get through what I'd been through. 

“The education I received at El Centro laid the foundation that I have been able to build on. The program is structured in a manner that prepares the inexperienced clinician to make an immediate positive impact on patient care. The training gave me an understanding of physiology, respiratory equipment and therapeutic modalities that has allowed me to make a difference in patients’ lives. 

“This program has given me the tools to be a vital member of any health care team. There is satisfaction in knowing you are making a positive difference. The field of respiratory care is one in which the learning process never stops, and this program prepared me well for all the challenges I have encountered. 

“It continues to amaze me, now that I am an experienced clinician, that I depend on the training I received at El Centro each day. In addition, the relationships started during the program have been some of the most important benefits of the program to me. I would like to say thanks to all the instructors — they were all great. Most of all, I would like to thank Tuck Minnett, who was with me during my first patient encounter and made the program fun.”

Dean Holland attended North Lake and earned an Associate in Applied Sciences degree in Respiratory Care from El Centro. He co-authored the papers that won the Jimmy Schultz Award at the Snowbird High-Frequency Conference (an international conference on high-frequency ventilation) in 2001 and 2003. He has also been published in Critical Care Medicine, Journal of Respiratory Care, Annals of Emergency Medicine and Journal of Surgery. In his current job, he is responsible for staff training, therapist orientation, credentialing of equipment, process improvement, ongoing clinical education and research.

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