Republican-Eagle: New program allows high school students to earn college credit, become nursing assistants
By Skyler Stone, October 28, 2023
On Thursday of MEA weekend, a handful of Red Wing High School students came to Minnesota State College Southeast to learn skills they'll need as certified nursing assistants.
The students are part of a new program that allows high school students in Red Wing and Winona to train as nursing assistants while earning college credit through MSC Southeast.
The class is taught during the school day at the high school, with some visits to the college campus for practical experience.
The program is run by MSC Southeast's former director of business relations, Calli Ekblad, who took on the program as a special project.
"We wanted to create a pathway for high school students not only to do nursing assistant training but also to meet pre-requisites for our practical nursing program and other health care options that they might pursue at Southeast," said Ekblad.
The program is funded by a grant from Southeast Service Cooperative, a nonprofit organization that serves over 100 schools in southeastern Minnesota.
Some of this funding went toward setting up nursing labs in both Red Wing and Winona for students to practice their skills.
The nursing labs at the schools are almost identical to the labs at MSC Southeast. They include items that students can expect to find in nursing homes, such as wheelchairs and walkers, instruments for measuring vital signs, and mannequins that students can use in their practice. Hospital beds were provided on loan from Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing.
Thanks to this support, the program is almost completely free for students -- the only thing they have to buy is their nursing scrubs.
In Red Wing, the program is taught by Sandy VerBout, RN, an adjunct nursing instructor at MSC Southeast. VerBout has been working off and on for MSC Southeast since 1989.
VerBout is assisted by Mick Wendland, the Flight Path Coordinator for the Red Wing Public School District. Though his main role is as supervisor, Wendland has training as a Wilderness First Responder and experience taking care of people with disabilities, so he's able to answer some of the students' questions.
Most days, the students participate in the program at the high school, where they work on online lessons and assignments or practice the skills they've learned in the school's nursing lab.
Students also spend a few days during the semester training at MSC Southeast under VerBout's supervision. Aside from the 4-hour session last Thursday, students will spend two 8-hour sessions at MSC Southeast later in the course.
At the start of the semester, students learned how to take care of a patient's basic needs and communicate with them effectively. Last week, students learned how to provide personal care and change sheets without getting the patient out of the bed. Their last unit will prepare them to care for patients who have dementia or Alzheimer's.
At the end of the program, students will take the Minnesota State Registry Test. If they pass the test, they'll become certified nursing assistants, allowing them to work as nursing assistants and pursue higher degrees in nursing.
Because of the Red Wing College Promise, Red Wing High School students can continue their nursing education at MSC Southeast tuition-free. Several of the students in the program plan to do just that, including GracyMae Gernentz and Kinsey Schoeder.
At first, Gernentz and Schoeder didn't know what to expect from the program, and were nervous they would mess up. As time went on, though, things got easier.
"Our whole class has been growing more comfortable with each other," said Gernentz. "We're more willing to ask each other for help."
"We've all been learning together," added Schoeder.
VerBout has been delighted by the curiosity and dedication of the students in the program, and is glad to be teaching them. "These are the people that will be helping my family members, and even helping me, someday," she said.