It’s important for students to know that the classes they are committing to will take them in the direction they want to go. Sarah Horrocks, current LPN student, reflected on her time at the Fayette Institute of Technology (FIT).
“My Health Occupations class prepared me for [an LPN program] by teaching me the foundations of healthcare and the basic skills of taking care of patients.”
Horrocks is on a successful career path as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for the Ansted Center. She is working hard in the adult class that takes place at FIT to get certified as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).
“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse since I was little.” says Horrocks. “With Health Occupations, and having the option of CNA certification, it was just the better pathway to becoming a nurse and do what I wanted to do.”
Health Occupations is a Simulated Workplace program, consisting of 1,080 hours over two years that prepares students for a wide variety of work in the medical field. The Health Science Education Instructor, Ms. Ashley, makes sure the class provides all the criteria students will need to progress to college or the working world.
“CNAs specifically have a list of fifty-six skills that they must be able to do. When they go take their state test, five of those skills will be picked. Hand washing is always one, but there are four others that will be random. Those are things that happen in the real world when you work in a doctor’s office, a hospital, a nursing home, a clinic, or a dentist office. So the skills they learn in here, they will use in the workforce.”
Going into the class, everyone gets to choose what they want to do. “I expect students coming in to have a general idea of what they want to do in the medical field. You just can’t tell me ‘I want to go into the medical field’ because that’s a big area; tell me what you want to go into,” says Ashley.
It’s a class of opportunities. The two certifications students can get out of this class are Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). However, those are not the only options. “They can choose to go into other areas that do not offer a certification, such as dental assisting, medical assisting, vet tech, etc.” says Ashley.
Horrocks wants to be a Registered Nurse (RN) but went through the CNA training in Health Occupations. “Doing what I’m doing now will make me a better RN in the future.”
Ashley has high expectations for her students. “I don’t give you your grade; you get what you earn. If you don’t work at it, you’re not going to get it.”
In addition to high standards, strict attendance is emphasized because the medical fields are constantly changing and knowing the criteria is crucial. These life lessons are essential for students like Horrocks, who spends all of her time working and attending class; she has little room for leisure.
Ashley says the program is very fluid for the benefit of her students, and while the current students may be learning one method, techniques evolve, and students in five years may be learning alternative methods.
“Things have changed over the years. We’ve updated a lot of the equipment here. We made changes in the way things were taught, and some of the things that we do. Even since I’ve been here, I’ve changed the way I do things.”
Overall, the Health Science Education program is extremely competitive, and students are getting a lot out of it. Ashley has fifty students applying each year to get into her class, but only around twenty will make the cut.
Horrocks was one of the hard-working students who made it. “I knew I had the grades, but I was still very nervous.”
This competitive nature gives Ashley students that are willing to do their best and meet her expectations. Health Occupations produces successful, hard-working adults like Sarah Horrocks and will continue producing them as the program continues to advance and develop.