PA College Magazine - 7

FACULTY PROFILE
Benner's Roles Take Him From
Classroom to Bedside
By Jennifer Walker
Since COVID-19 has become
widespread, Joel Benner, MEd, RRT, an
instructor in PA College's Respiratory
Care Associate Degree program, has
felt a stronger connection between his
roles as a faculty member and a provider.
"Just a week ago, I taught on a Friday
about ARDS [acute respiratory distress
syndrome] and on a Saturday, I was
clinically at the bedside looking at
COVID-19 patients with ARDS," says
Benner, a clinical respiratory therapist
(RT) who has worked at Penn Medicine
Lancaster General Hospital for more
than a decade. "The things we're teaching
in the classroom are exactly what we're
seeing at the clinical bedside."
This is because RTs play a critical role
in the treatment of COVID-19, says
Benner, who earned his undergraduate
degrees in biology and respiratory
therapy from Millersville University in
2008 and his master's degree in health

education from Penn State in 2017. For
patients with COVID-19 who struggle
to breathe, RTs provide care by clearing
mucous and fluid from the lungs,
managing ventilators for patients who
have also been diagnosed with ARDS,
and getting patients into the prone
position, or face down, which can
improve oxygenation and ventilation.
As a result, Benner has been covering
these topics with students specifically
as they relate to COVID-19. Although
RT students, who returned to their
clinical rotations in early June, are not
yet providing care to these patients,
"the hope is that when the time comes
our students can hit the ground running
and be ready to grow and be impactful
at the bedside right away," says Benner,
who in his faculty role does everything
from teaching theory, to guiding
hands-on lab time, to walking students
through bedside procedures.

In addition to his work at PA College,
Benner continues to take shifts every
third weekend at LGH. While much of
the RT profession has stayed the same
since COVID-19, Benner says that a
lot has changed, too. "Now it's about
more than just worrying about the
patient's care," he says. "We're worrying
about each other's care, too." Benner
and his colleagues look out for each
other, making sure that they all have
the proper personal protective
equipment and are as safe as possible
while caring for patients.
For Benner, the high stakes of COVID-19
have emphasized the importance of
teamwork in a hospital setting. "There
has been so much support among
providers," says Benner, who spends his
free time playing sports with his three
young sons. "And when health care
workers are working together, patient
care is optimized." n
PA College / Fall 2020

7
PA College Magazine

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