Story: Lisa Sollie | Photo/Video: Cody Ingram
Malayasia Carlisle of Lafayette, Alabama, and Amiracle Jones of Demopolis are among the first students to enroll in the University of West Alabama’s new respiratory therapy program. The University launched the program in January 2025 to help meet the state’s growing demand for respiratory therapists.
Carlisle was pursuing the physician assistant/associate track at UWA when Jerry King, program director and associate professor of respiratory therapy, visited her anatomy and physiology class.
“My first thought was that I didn’t want to change my major and risk delaying graduation,” she recalled. Then, over the Christmas break, she decided to give it a try—especially since she would finish only a few months later than originally planned.
Carlisle, who has a history with asthma, says she has already gained new insight into the disease she’s lived with since childhood, as well as other conditions that respiratory therapists treat. “I like that this program is still in the healthcare field, just more focused on the lungs and heart,” she says.
While Carlisle discovered the program through a classroom visit, Jones found it in a very different way.
Jones was working in the emergency department at Whitfield Regional Hospital in Demopolis preparing to take her certification boards for medical coding, when a co-worker mentioned the new UWA program. That comment “stirred something in my spirit,” she said. Although she had never considered becoming a respiratory therapist—and was then enrolled at Troy University, majoring in social work—she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being called in a new direction.
“I honestly felt like it was God speaking to me. When my mom nearly passed away from COVID in 2021, and struggled with serious respiratory problems, I felt helpless. That experience changed me—it made me want to understand the respiratory system and help people breathe again.”
With encouragement from King, and others at UWA, Jones made what she said was a difficult decision to withdraw from Troy and pursue respiratory therapy at UWA instead.
King says it’s been rewarding to watch both students grow. “Malayasia and Amiracle work hard and want to succeed, but they also make sure their classmates are successful too. They’re demonstrating the qualities of great respiratory therapists, and I’m grateful we were able to introduce them to the profession.”
That passion for helping others reflects why King wanted to create the program in the first place. As a former respiratory therapist and medical educator in Birmingham, he recognized that the number of respiratory therapists graduating from Alabama-based institutions weren’t meeting statewide demand. To help fill that gap, he moved to Livingston to launch one of the state’s newest respiratory therapy programs at UWA. The respiratory track joins four others in UWA’s health sciences comprehensive major, including athletic training, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and physician assistant/associate.
King says UWA’s geographic west Alabama location positions the program to help address healthcare shortages in rural and regional communities.
That need, he says, mirrors the scope of the profession itself. Respiratory therapists’ “nose-to- diaphragm” coverage allows them to care for patients across nearly every stage of life—from newborns with lung complications to adults on ventilator support. They also help manage chronic diseases, support smoking cessation, and deliver oxygen therapy and medications.
Though the program is still new, Carlisle and Jones say the blend of classroom instruction, whiteboard-based review, lab practice, checkoffs, and clinical rotations give them confidence they will succeed. They especially appreciate their instructors’ open communication and hands-on learning style.
“If I don’t understand something, I’m encouraged to go up to the whiteboard and write it down. That often helps me figure it out,” noted Jones.
“For me, it’s like active recall, which helps me retain the information better,” Carlisle added.
Those same study and lab techniques prepare students for clinical rotations, where they apply their skills with patients under supervision.
Clinical rotations are a key component, King said, with more than 100 clinical preceptors across Alabama and Mississippi. Students complete rotations each semester during the 16-month (five -semester) program, gaining experience in everything from basic oxygen therapy and medication delivery to airway emergencies, cardiac arrest and mechanical ventilation.
UWA partners with regional medical centers including Baptist Anderson and Ochsner Rush Medical Center in Meridian, Mississippi, and DCH in Tuscaloosa; Children’s Hospital of Alabama (neonatal and pediatric intensive care units) and UAB Hospital in Birmingham; Whitfield Regional Hospital in Demopolis; and Ochsner Choctaw General in Butler, Alabama. Specialty rotations are also available at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, and several hospitals in Baldwin/Mobile counties of Alabama.
Before performing hands-on procedures such as breathing treatments or conduct ventilator checks, students must complete a series of “checkoffs” demonstrating skill proficiency.
“Anything is fair game in checkoffs,” said Jones. “They may go all the way back to information we learned in the first semester.”
“When a student checks off something,” Carlisle added, “that means they’re proficient in that skill and can perform it in clinicals, as long as the preceptor agrees.”
“Our program is structured so students learn the material in the classroom, practice in the lab, then apply it with patients during clinicals,” King explained. “Mr. Corey Noles, our director of clinical education, works closely with our clinical sites to ensure students are prepared. Our ultimate goal is to develop leaders and advanced registered respiratory therapists in the field.”
While their paths may differ, both Carlisle and Jones say they look forward to helping others after graduation. Carlisle, a first-generation college student, hopes to start at a hospital near her hometown, then possibly move to Georgia or travel as a respiratory therapist in the future.
Jones plans to work in an emergency department in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham. “I like the unexpected in the ED—using your skills based on how each patient presents,” she said. “I may even go back to school to become a physician assistant, but that can wait a little while.”
The respiratory therapy program received Provisional Accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) in November 2025.
Graduates are eligible to take the Therapist Multiple-Choice (TMC) and Clinical Simulation (CSE) exams leading to the Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) and Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credentials through the National Board for Respiratory Care.
For information on admission requirements, prerequisites, and course offerings, contact Program Director Jerry King at (205) 652-3475 or jking@uwa.edu.
The University of West Alabama Respiratory Therapy Program – CoARC #200669, awarding a Baccalaureate of Science in Health Sciences Comprehensive Respiratory Therapy Track in the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, holds Provisional Accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (www.coarc.com). This status signifies that a program that has been granted an Approval of Intent, has demonstrated sufficient compliance to initiate a program in accordance with the Standards through the completion and submission of an acceptable Provisional Accreditation Self Study Report (PSSR), completion of an initial on-site visit, and other documentation required by the CoARC. The conferral of Provisional Accreditation denotes a new program that has made significant progress towards meeting the Standards of Accreditation. The program will remain on Provisional Accreditation until achieving Continuing Accreditation. It is recognized by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) toward eligibility to the Respiratory Care Credentialing Examination(s). Enrolled students completing the program under Provisional Accreditation are considered graduates of a CoARC accredited program. CoARC accredits respiratory therapy education programs in the United States.