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A head start in medicine
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| H&N photo by Andrew Mariman Mazama High School senior Dani Smiley, Mazama senior Diana Peña and Chiloquin High School senior Lauren Thompson participate in a Wednesday class for students pursuing an early education in health occupations. |
High school students trained in health field
By STEVE KADEL
H&N Staff Writer
Sierra Phillips is one 17-year-old high school senior who knows where she is headed in life.
The Klamath Union student wants to be a registered nurse, and she’s already taking steps toward that goal. Phillips is one of 20 teens selected to take part in an advanced health occupations class co-sponsored by Sky Lakes Medical Center, Klamath Falls City Schools, Klamath County School District and Klamath Community College.
“I like helping people,” Phillips said. “I enjoy the medical profession, and learning about the human body and how it works.”
She and her classmates are studying under Jennifer Lacy, a Sky Lakes registered nurse and instructor for the certified nursing assistant (CNA) class.
“It’s a great stepping stone for those going into the profession,” Lacy said.
It’s not easy, though. The 20 girls who are enrolled — representing every high school in Klamath County — meet two or three times a week for up to five hours total in a class approved by the Oregon State Board of Nursing. They’ll spend 75 hours in classroom and lab sessions during the current semester, and 75 hours in clinical work next semester.
They’ll get hands-on experience during the clinical portion.
“By the end of the rotation they are performing all the duties of a certified nursing assistant,” Lacy said.
That includes everything from measuring blood pressure and taking patients’ temperature to bathing them and helping them walk.
By passing coursework and the state’s nursing assistant exam, they will have CNA credentials and receive nine credits from Klamath Community College.
Dani Smiley, a Mazama High senior, aspires to be a registered nurse. She said the Health Professions II class is teaching her valuable skills.
Monserrat Licea, another Mazama senior, has her sights set on becoming a physician’s assistant. She’d always been interested in the medical field, but used a lower-level health occupations class last year to focus her goal. She sometimes wears scrubs to class, and already looks like a professional health care worker when she attends sessions at the Community Health Education Center on Eldorado Boulevard.
Lauren Thompson, a Chiloquin High School senior, also has strong career plans. She wants to get her CNA license, and then go to Oregon Institute of Technology to study medical imagining.
“Then I’ll have two really marketable skills that are both in high demand,” she said.
Bobbie Sue Britton of Sky Lakes is coordinator for the health occupations program. She said there are 125 students currently involved in three courses.
Some see becoming a certified nursing assistant as a career in itself, Britton said, while others will use their skills to work part-time while pursuing more advanced education.
Either way, students who take part tend to be responsible and focused.
“We have a significant number of graduates working at the (Sky Lakes) hospital,” Britton said
The Klamath Union student wants to be a registered nurse, and she’s already taking steps toward that goal. Phillips is one of 20 teens selected to take part in an advanced health occupations class co-sponsored by Sky Lakes Medical Center, Klamath Falls City Schools, Klamath County School District and Klamath Community College.
“I like helping people,” Phillips said. “I enjoy the medical profession, and learning about the human body and how it works.”
She and her classmates are studying under Jennifer Lacy, a Sky Lakes registered nurse and instructor for the certified nursing assistant (CNA) class.
“It’s a great stepping stone for those going into the profession,” Lacy said.
It’s not easy, though. The 20 girls who are enrolled — representing every high school in Klamath County — meet two or three times a week for up to five hours total in a class approved by the Oregon State Board of Nursing. They’ll spend 75 hours in classroom and lab sessions during the current semester, and 75 hours in clinical work next semester.
They’ll get hands-on experience during the clinical portion.
“By the end of the rotation they are performing all the duties of a certified nursing assistant,” Lacy said.
That includes everything from measuring blood pressure and taking patients’ temperature to bathing them and helping them walk.
By passing coursework and the state’s nursing assistant exam, they will have CNA credentials and receive nine credits from Klamath Community College.
Dani Smiley, a Mazama High senior, aspires to be a registered nurse. She said the Health Professions II class is teaching her valuable skills.
Monserrat Licea, another Mazama senior, has her sights set on becoming a physician’s assistant. She’d always been interested in the medical field, but used a lower-level health occupations class last year to focus her goal. She sometimes wears scrubs to class, and already looks like a professional health care worker when she attends sessions at the Community Health Education Center on Eldorado Boulevard.
Lauren Thompson, a Chiloquin High School senior, also has strong career plans. She wants to get her CNA license, and then go to Oregon Institute of Technology to study medical imagining.
“Then I’ll have two really marketable skills that are both in high demand,” she said.
Bobbie Sue Britton of Sky Lakes is coordinator for the health occupations program. She said there are 125 students currently involved in three courses.
Some see becoming a certified nursing assistant as a career in itself, Britton said, while others will use their skills to work part-time while pursuing more advanced education.
Either way, students who take part tend to be responsible and focused.
“We have a significant number of graduates working at the (Sky Lakes) hospital,” Britton said
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