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New Prairie High medical pathway training future nurses
Grant Wood Area Education Agency also launches health care apprenticeship with $1.2 million Iowa Workforce Development grant
Mar. 6, 2023 5:00 am
Prairie High School senior Rayanna Ajram practices cleaning the teeth and mouth of a simulated patient as fellow seniors Alicia Jones (center) and Jennifer Bui look on during lab exercises March 2. Students practiced skills used by nursing assistants such as helping with bathing, dressing, grooming, oral/nail care, bed making and ambulation as well as nutrition skills like feeding going term care residents. The school launched its health and public services academy this year. Similar to the agriculture sciences academy launched last year, the academy model gives students practical experience in their chosen fields without having to go off campus. Other academies are planned. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Prairie High School senior Tre’onna Herr-Williamson cleans the teeth and mouth of a simulated patient during lab exercises March 2. Students practiced skills used by nursing assistants such as helping with bathing, dressing, grooming, oral/nail care, bed making and ambulation as well as nutrition skills like feeding going term care residents. The school launched its health and public services academy this year. Similar to the agriculture sciences academy launched last year, the academy model gives students practical experience in their chosen fields without having to go off campus. Other academies are planned. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Prairie High School senior Rayanna Ajram practices cleaning the teeth and mouth of a simulated patient during lab exercises March 2. Students practiced skills used by nursing assistants such as helping with bathing, dressing, grooming, oral/nail care, bed making and ambulation as well as nutrition skills like feeding going term care residents. The school launched its health and public services academy this year. Similar to the agriculture sciences academy launched last year, the academy model gives students practical experience in their chosen fields without having to go off campus. Other academies are planned. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Prairie senior Justine Vallejo (left) guides fellow senior Leilani Vazquez (cq) using a gait belt during lab exercises March 2. Students practiced skills used by nursing assistants such as helping with bathing, dressing, grooming, oral/nail care, bed making and ambulation as well as nutrition skills like feeding going term care residents. The school launched its health and public services academy this year. Similar to the agriculture sciences academy launched last year, the academy model gives students practical experience in their chosen fields without having to go off campus. Other academies are planned. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Prairie High School junior Ava Langston (right) washes the hands of senior Francine Tuyisenge (left) while junior Maya Carrizales (second from right) washes the hands of fellow junior Lilian Jones during lab exercises March 2. Students practiced skills used by nursing assistants such as helping with bathing, dressing, grooming, oral/nail care, bed making and ambulation as well as nutrition skills like feeding going term care residents. The school launched its health and public services academy this year. Similar to the agriculture sciences academy launched last year, the academy model gives students practical experience in their chosen fields without having to go off campus. Other academies are planned. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
CEDAR RAPIDS — Tre’onna Herr-Williamson is training toward a certified nursing assistant license at Prairie High School’s new medical career pathway.
Herr-Williamson, 17, a senior at Prairie High, wants to be a travel nurse someday, taking temporary nursing positions in high-need areas so she can travel.
The medical career pathway means Herr-Williamson can be one step closer to her career goals and graduate with a certified nursing assistant.
When she goes to college at Georgia Southern University — where she was accepted last month — she can work in health care while finishing her nursing degree.
The certified nursing assistant course began being offered at Prairie High for the first time in January. While a similar program is offered through Kirkwood Community College, having the class at Prairie High during the school day removes barriers for some students interested in the program.
Herr-Williamson said she doesn’t drive and it would be a challenge for her to get to Kirkwood to take classes.
Alicia Jones, 18, also a senior at Prairie High, said she wasn’t able to take certified nursing assistant classes at Kirkwood because it conflicted with Prairie’s band practice.
Prairie High senior Rayanna Ajram, 17, didn’t know Kirkwood classes were an option for earning her certified nursing assistant license, she said.
The certified nursing assistant classroom at Prairie High has two patient beds — one with a manikin for students to practice basic care needs like bathing a patient in bed, shampooing and conditioning their hair, nail care, brushing their teeth and feeding a patient.
Last week, the students had a potluck and practiced feeding each other. Jones brought in pudding cups and Ajram brought in McDonald’s hamburgers.
“It’s a really good idea to practice on each other to get that real-life reaction,” Herr-Williamson said.
The class is taught by Prairie High’s own school nurses Mary Beth Neal and Jackie Martin.
There are no prerequisites to enroll in Prairie’s medical career pathway, but Martin said she could see the program expanding to include classes in anatomy and medical terminology.
Martin, who started as a school nurse at Prairie High last year, said she was interested in the position in part because of the opportunity to teach students.
The need for health care workers is “unreal,” Martin said. “They’ll be able to find a job with very little trouble.”
People as young as 16 years old can earn their certified nursing assistant license.
In class, students get the required 30 hours of lecture and 25 hours of lab before completing 30 hours of clinical rotations with real patients at Colonial Manor, a retirement community in Amana.
Later this spring, they will take the Iowa certified nursing assistant test to get their license and the school will have a pinning ceremony, signifying completion of the program and initiation in to the health care profession.
Health care apprenticeship programs in Eastern Iowa schools
Another opportunity for Eastern Iowa students to earn their certified nursing assistance license is through Grant Wood Area Education Agency’s new apprenticeship program.
The area education agency received a $1.2 million grant from Iowa Workforce Development to create the program and help address the health care workforce shortage.
Students will complete the program of study during their junior and senior years in high school. The program includes online coursework that can be completed at their home-school and experience in a certified lab at Kirkwood regional centers.
Jen Boyd, Future Ready curriculum consultant with Grant Wood, said there is a “huge workforce crisis” right now in Iowa. This opportunity helps students get started in their careers, and health care partners who are struggling to fill open positions, she said.
To complete the apprenticeship, students work 2,000 hours getting paid a starting wage of at least $9 an hour. They earn their certified nursing assistance license their junior year of high school, work full-time with an employer over the summer, and work part-time during their senior year of high school.
The program is estimated to increase the number of certified nursing assistants by about 30 to 40 each year, Grant Wood chief administrator John Speer said in a news release.
The grant funding will initially support 11 districts in the region, including Alburnett, Belle Plaine, Benton, Clear Creek Amana, Center Point-Urbana, Cedar Rapids, Marion, Solon, Vinton-Shellsburg, Washington, West Branch and Williamsburg school districts.
Currently, there are 15 students in the apprenticeship program from eight school districts.
Tina Eden, director of nursing at Virginia Gay Hospital in Vinton, is working with two students in an apprenticeship.
“We’ve seen over the years our patients are sicker and require more intensive care and longer stays. We need the employees to take care of them,” Eden said. “In rural Iowa with our critical access hospitals, it’s very difficult to fill those positions.”
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
