On January 23, 2018, eighteen students from the Health Assistance program at Lawrence County Career and Technical Center began their journey to receive their Pennsylvania State Nurse Aide certification. The training consisted of 22 testable skills. When the test was given, five random skills were chosen out of the 22 for each student. The test also consisted of a 70 question written test made of Nurse Aide related questions.
In the month of April, the 18 students completed their required 55 on-site clinical hours at the Haven Convalescent Nursing Home. The clinical time gave the students the opportunity to learn what it would be like to work as a Nurses Aide hands on. The students were also required to complete 40 hours of classroom theory work. In the theory work, the students learned the information that was on the written test. Lastly, the students were required to complete 25 lab hours. The lab hours were used for the students to practice and learn their 22 skills for the test. In all, the students had to complete 120 hours of Nurse Aide training. The Nurse Aide training was completed on April 20, 2018.
“They all passed! 18 new CNA’s. This is an adult course they took while having the challenge of keeping up on all of their regular academic classes,” commented Valerie O’Donnell, RN and HA Instructor. “Many of these kids hold down jobs too! They worked long hours. We laughed, we cried, and some of them hated me for a while. But in the end, their hard work paid off!”
Mr. Vince Pavia, RN and HA instructor agrees: “I’m so proud of our newest State Registered Certified Nursing Assistants! They earned this!”
O’Donnell considers, “Some young people face things everyday that would cause a lot of us to give up. Not these kiddos.”
This year, Mrs. Valerie O’Donnell was proud to announce a 100% passing rate.
