Paying a Visit to the School `Nurse' ; Goochland Students Get Training Through An In-SCHOOL Program > Back To Resources

Jim Mason
Richmond Times-Dispatch - April 28, 2004

Goochland High School has its own hospital - or so it appears.

"We basically set up a five-bed hospital at the high school," said Carolyn Cuthrell, community-services director of HCA Richmond Hospitals.

A classroom was converted into the school's "hospital" for a course on nursing, which is being taught this school year for the first time. And 19 students, all junior or senior girls, are enrolled.

Since the class meets in the mornings, the nursing students wear their scrubs, white pants and maroon tops to school.

"Other students see them in their scrubs," said Frank Morgan, superintendent of Goochland County schools. "There's real-world value in this."

Morgan noted that "sometimes they will have this dummy lying in one of the beds, and I'm passing by and see it out of the corner of my eye and wonder, 'Who's that?' Then I realize it's only a mannequin."

Paula Powers, an instructor for the course, said the mannequins allow the students to practice their skills before doing so with a real person.

Powers, a registered nurse and nursing-home administrator, is a part-time instructor at the Goochland campus of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. The college, about a mile east of the high school on state Route 6, helped set up the nursing course and provides the two instructors.

"J. Sargeant Reynolds and Goochland High School should be commended for this kind of partnership," Cuthrell said. "It helps address a need in the community and encourages students to go into a wonderful career."

Goochland High Principal Jon Bennett said he sees the nursing course as a model of community cooperation. Ruxton Health at the Meadows at 2715 Dogtown Road participates, he said, and the high school's nursing students go to the nursing home to help care for patients.

"They are getting hands-on experience," Powers said of the students' rounds at Ruxton Health. "This is preparing them to take the state certification test."

Upon completing the high school course, students will have the skills of a nursing assistant. "And if they pass a state text, they will become a certified nursing assistant and can work in a hospital or nursing home," Powers said. "They usually go on to become registered nurses or licensed practical nurses."

A registered nurse, or RN, evaluates a patient's health-care needs, develops and carries out a nursing-care plan and execute's a physician's orders, including administering medications. A licensed practical nurse, or LPN, provides basic bedside care, including monitoring of vital signs.

Cuthrell said that when HCA Richmond Hospitals, an affiliate of HCA Inc., learned that the high school wanted to start the nursing course, "we decided to help." In addition to converting the classroom into a "hospital," HCA Richmond Hospitals provided $11,000 for supplies and equipmen.

Cuthrell said she believes it important to interest students in health-care careers. Barbara Brown, vice president of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, pointed out that nursing shortages are running about 10 percent in the Richmond area.

"One of the issues is an older population. People are living longer and requiring more health care," Brown said.

Falecyonna "Shay" Pace, one of the high school nursing students, has had a nursing career in mind for years.

"When I was in the first grade, I decided I wanted to be a nurse," the 17-year-old senior said. "I like children, so I want to be a registered nurse, specializing in pediatric care."

Like the 18 other students, Pace is learning the skills of a nursing assistant - how to feed patients, give them bed baths, make a bed with a patient in it and how to check vital signs.

After graduation in June, she plans to take the state test to become a certified nursing assistant. Her next step?

"Get a job," she said, laughing.

(C) 2004 Richmond Times-Dispatch. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

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