The Élaine-Trottier Prize was awarded to a project with Flair
At the Ordre professionnel des inhalothérapeutes du Québec’s (OPIQ) 43rd annual convention, Chantale Gagnon, respiratory therapist at the CIUSSS du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean – Hôpital de Jonquière, received the Élaine-Trottier Prize. Ms. Gagnon worked hard to set up Flair, a project that aims to provide personalized services in the hospital and patients’ homes for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD). To date, the results are looking very promising with a 70% drop in the number of admissions to the emergency room and hospitalizations. FIQ Vice-President, Linda Lapointe, was pleased to award the prize and a $2,000 bursary to Ms. Gagnon.
In 1997, respiratory therapist Élaine Trottier became the first female president of the Association professionnelle des inhalothérapeutes du Québec (APIQ) and remained the president until 2004. Next, she became the first respiratory therapist vice-president at the FIIQ+ and then at the FIQ.