TRent

TEAMSTER: Trent tate

Worksite: Contra Costa Regional Medical Center

On the job: 23 years

Job title: Respiratory Care Practitioner II

What that means: "A respiratory care practitioner manages life support in the ICU. We have a wide range of therapy that we provide from breathing treatments, to ventilators, to BiPAP, CPAP, oxygen delivery devices. We work with babies to geriatrics and everyone in between."

Work that matters: "This place has changed a lot. There's a change in how we treat patients, but the one thing I love about this job is we help a lot of people that are less fortunate than we are and we're able to provide them with quality care. And the nice thing is I don't have to worry about their paycheck, if they make money or not. I'm able to go in there and do my job."

Community Roots: "I grew up in Benicia, just across the bridge. I was actually born in the old hospital in 1967. And my grandma worked here. She was an RN. She retired in '93 and I started in '93."

On being a Teamster: "I was tired of being represented by our previous association–it wasn't a union. I was really frustrated that every time I went to them, they were unable to do anything for us. Actually, our managers did more for us than they did. But now the Teamsters provide us with all the support that we need."