3 Weeks of Spring Success!
Congratulations! From left to right in back row: Dean Kristen Finnel, Toni Post – Fond du Lac, Alan Martinez-Luna – Fond du Lac, Louise Zenner – Malone, Ashley Lewis – West Bend, Instructor Karrie Bruegman-May. Front row: Jennifer Kikendall – Waupun, Briana Gens – Fond du Lac, Nhia Yang – Beaver Dam, and Angela Clark – Beaver Dam.
From March 27 – April 13, at the Beaver Dam Campus, 9 more students successfully completed Moraine Park Technical College’s Nursing Assistant (CNA) boot camp–a rigorous three-week, 120 hour, 3 credit, learning experience. Students spent their clinical hours training at Hillside Manor in Beaver Dam, an MPTC community partnership through Beaver Dam Community Hospital.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) ACT for Healthcare Grant program, the CNA boot camps condense a typical 8- or 16-week, three-credit Nursing Assistant course into an accelerated format. Training provides theory, laboratory experience and clinical learning that teaches students the skills to perform duties such as taking vital signs, bathing, dressing, feeding, making beds, and other direct resident care. The grant-funded CNA boot camps began in the summer of 2015 and continue through the summer of 2017. Approximately 200 students are expected to complete the camps over the three-year grant, qualifying them to take the Pearson Vue Wisconsin Nurse Aide Certification Exam.
CNA training is required for students interested in pursuing many healthcare related fields. Some CNAs go straight into the workforce. Others continue their studies toward an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. Many students may work as a CNA for great experience and a paycheck while continuing their studies. Instructor Karrie Bruegman-May said, “This was an incredible hard working class, they did a great job and every single student intends to take the Pearson Vue exam and seek CNA employment, while continuing their education towards Nursing, Respiratory Therapy, Nurse Practitioner, and Radiography careers.”
All 16 Wisconsin Technical Colleges, including Moraine Park, are three-year grant recipients, with each institution developing its own supplemental healthcare programs under the Act for Healthcare consortium project. Dislocated workers and veterans receive priority placement for grant funding. Moraine Park already offers traditional CNA classes at all three campuses throughout the academic year.
CNA training is in high demand, with most classes filled to capacity. Boot camp students complete the theory portion of the course online on their own time and master hands-on skills for 120 hours of training in the classroom and clinical settings. A grade of C or better and 100 percent attendance are required for successful completion. Boot camp sizes are capped at 10 students per instructor, with some cohorts stacked with 20 students and two instructors. CNA employees are in extremely high demand with over 1,000 positions currently listed across the state. More CNA instructors are needed to meet the growing demand!
In order to participate in the upcoming grant-funded boot camps, students must attend an information/application session, complete a criminal background check and meet specific health and safety requirements.
Summer 2017 is the final opportunity to participate in the grant funded CNA boot camps! To discover more, visit www.morainepark.edu/4health or call 920-924-3329.
