Featured Photo: Aysia Kirklen, now a 2021 MHS graduate, received her pin for becoming a CNA from Nursing Coordinator Tina Foreman during a ceremony in front of the school board last May. A group of 10 students recently completed the program.
Merrillville High School will completely take over and run its own CNA program this year, a milestone for the school’s Career and Technical Education Program.
The move substantially reduces fees for students planning to become certified nursing assistants, as they will no longer have to pay the additional costs for instruction at a different school, and reduces the challenges of transporting students offsite during the school day.
Over the course of the program’s five-year existence, MHS had partnered with organizations that could provide the qualified instructors and curriculum, like Victory Training in Hobart and also the University of St. Francis and former St. Anthony Hospital in Crown Point.
The MHS CNA program will have its own classroom and lab, and two registered nurses have been hired as educators to accommodate the growing number of students enrolled in this year’s program: Brandi Lawrence-Knocke and Angelique Todd, who each brings more than 10 years of experience working in various healthcare settings.
“We are excited to offer this program to more students, with the help of two excellent instructors, and serve the growing need for healthcare workers in our community,” said Bob Phelps, director of technology and CTE.
“The students will be together all year in a hands-on, immersive experience," he added. "They will finish the year in a local long-term care facility working towards their CNA license."
Once they complete the program and become certified, students can enter the workforce and take care of patients in a number of different healthcare settings, like hospitals, long-term residential facilities, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, adult daycares and more.
“We have many parents in the healthcare industry,” Knocke said, acknowledging the influence parents have with their children’s career choices.
Additionally, not only will students earn certifications at MHS, but they will also earn college credit for the courses, he added. Many students use their MHS training as a base for further healthcare instruction at the college level.
“Each one of three classes that will be offered in our CNA pathway will be aligned to Ivy Tech's dual credit, meaning students can receive dual credit hours,” he said.
The students will take the Principles of Healthcare and Medical Terminology courses during the first two trimesters. During the third trimester, students will intern at a long-term care facility to gain on-the-job experience.
“This makes the CNA program (pathway) unique in that students can become a concentrator in one year,” he added.
Concentrator is a CTE term indicating that students have taken a certain number of classes to fulfill a graduation requirement, he said. This year, the state requires students to pass a set of three classes to be a concentrator.