On Wednesday, October 16, the Moraine Park Student Nurses Association (SNA) sponsored their annual Healthcare Career Fair.

Students and community members were invited to network, see what careers are available in the healthcare field, and research continuing education opportunities.

In total, the event had 20 different booths and 12 door prize winners.

The SNA is already preparing for next year’s fair, which is being planned for mid-October. Stay tuned for more information on the date and details.

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Starting for Spring 2020, students interested in attending the College’s Nursing Assistant Technical Diploma program (Moraine Park Technical College course 543-300) will be able to apply for Admission to the College online. Students can access the application by navigating to www.morainepark.edu/apply. The online application became available September 3, 2019. Students will need to have completed the application, paid the one-time, non-refundable $30 application fee, and completed the Criminal Background Check process in order to be accepted to the Nursing Assistant program. There is no placement testing or transcript required for admission to this program.

Once students are accepted to the Nursing Assistant program, they will have a program code that will allow them to register for a section of 543-300. Students without this program code will be unable to register for course 543-300 beginning with registration for Spring 2020. (Fall 2019 registration is not impacted). More information about the Nursing Assistant program can be found on our website at https://www.morainepark.edu/programs/nursing+assistant/.

Two Moraine Park students were recently recognized for their heroic and life-saving actions.

This spring, Scott Lieburn, Moraine Park’s dean of students, received a notification that a 911 call was placed on campus. Upon his arrival at the scene, he immediately identified that it was near the nursing classroom. Natasha Sokoloff, a second-year nursing student, and Andres Morales, a first-year respiratory therapy student, were providing care to an unresponsive person. They were supported by instructors and classmates and administered life-saving care until EMS arrived.

“It is clear that these students are in the right field,” Scott said. “They showed a sense of urgency and remained calm during the intense situation.”

This person was within minutes of death, but because of Natasha and Andres’s teamwork, they are alive today.

It is because of these heroic measures that the Fond du Lac Fire Department presented Natasha and Andres with a Lifesaving Award at Moraine Park’s June 19 board meeting.

Additionally, the person sent a message.

“To the person or people who found me, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I literally owe you my life, and I hope you know how grateful I am for that.”

Graduates from Moraine Park’s Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) class are beginning new careers as certified Medical Laboratory Technicians!

This year, nine students graduated from the program and have begun working in the field. All of the students successfully passed the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) National Certification Exam on their first attempt to become official MLT (ASCP) employees. This is quite the accomplishment, since the national average for passing the ASCP Board of Certification Exam on the first attempt is 83 percent.

Medical Laboratory Technicians play a main role in the diagnosis and treatment of patients through evaluation of patient specimens and reporting accurate results to physicians and other health care team members. The need for skilled professionals is in high demand as the field of laboratory science continues to expand and a large number of the current workforce is retiring. Employment opportunities are abundant throughout the United States.

For more information about this career, contact Linda Bau, MLT Program Director at lbau@morainepark.edu or (920) 924.3314. 

I hope to hear from you soon!

Last month, first semester Moraine Park nursing students helped residents get ready for their annual prom at the Fond du Lac St. Francis Home.

The students used their clinical time to provide hair and nail care, and dress the residents for their big event! The students enjoyed the one-on-one time to pamper the residents and give personalized care.

St. Francis Home hosts the resident prom each spring with a live music from a local high school band and invites family members to participate. So much fun!

For more program information, visit morainepark.edu/programs.

Nursing students in Instructor Michele Mengert’s Mental Health and Community Concepts course recently completed their community advocacy projects as part of our Spring, 2019 service learning opportunities. Michele said, “students are purposefully working to learn community oriented nursing. We want to target prevention as a priority. Nurses need to understand how to advocate for specific populations of people and have knowledge of the resource programs in your community that you can partner with to help your patients.”

This semester 17 students spent over 80 hours researching and collaborating with community partners to learn more about planned parenthood, poverty, women & infants, suicide, domestic violence, opioid abuse, water quality, and more. Students formulated detailed advocacy plans to address how a nurse could help a community identify and address these issues, providing education, awareness, advocacy and resources. Students gathered data to help determine strengths and weaknesses in their own communities. Project presentations were held on May 17.

Congratulations on all of this great work on important community issues!

Moraine Park Technical College has presented Serenity Hospice with its 2019 Community Partnership Award. This award recognizes a community non-profit or business partner organization who has gone above and beyond in their role of working with Moraine Park students in service learning opportunities.

Serenity Hospice is committed to providing the highest quality of care with a multidisciplinary team, serving patients and their families through every stage of end of life care. Moraine Park Medical Assistant students are important members of the hospice team! Volunteers are specially trained to provide support to the patient and family such as socialization, visitation, and helping with administrative tasks such as scanning, filing, alphabetizing, faxing, data entry, scheduling and collating. In 2019, MPTC student service learning volunteers spent over 240 hours at Serenity Hospice!

Ashley Wissinger, Volunteer & Bereavement Coordinator for Serenity Hospice said, “Thank you so much for this award!  We’ve had a lot of wonderful student volunteers from Moraine Park. The award is lovely and is proudly displayed. It was so great to meet your team and put faces with names!  It is truly an honor to work with the Moraine Park students.  We appreciate everything you and your team do to ensure your students are successful.”

Moraine Park Technical College works to bring quality education to the students, which in turn will benefit the communities where they live and work. Students who participate are required to log their volunteer hours, which count towards earning a Service-Learning Award.  Opportunities such as this allow students to make community connections prior to graduation and work through real-life scenarios. The partnership created by Moraine Park Technical College and Serenity Hospice will continue to benefit both of our organizations, the student volunteers, and the patients and families that are being served.

For more information on Moraine Park Technical College, visit morainepark.edu.

On May 16, Moraine Park Technical College nursing students assisted St. Agnes Hospital with their tornado evacuation drill. The 14 first- year nursing students helped by acting as patients for the staff to evacuate from various inpatient units across the hospital. Through this experience, the students were able to represent Moraine Park in the community and provide feedback during a debriefing reviewing the policies and procedures for hospital evacuation situations. They will also be able to apply the knowledge they gained to their third-semester mental health course when they further discuss emergency situations!

For more information Moraine Park Technical College, visit morainepark.edu.

Moraine Park Technical College nursing program celebrated the pinning of 51 students at their spring ceremony on May 17. This symbolic event represents the beginning of a nursing career. As well, it serves as an end to the Moraine Park journey and a celebration of the opportunities that lay ahead.

Additionally, the College is also celebrating a historic year by graduating 12 males from the program for the first time ever.

“We are seeing more non-traditional students in fields that have historically been either male or female dominated,” Bonnie Baerwald, president of Moraine Park Technical College said. “The increase of males in the nursing field shows that success in the industry is a result of educated skills, not gender, and brings the opportunity for a diverse work atmosphere within our healthcare systems.”

The students who received their nursing pins at the spring 2019 ceremony are Alyssa Ahlstrom of Westfield; Rosie Alsum of Brandon; Lindsay Birschbach of Fond du Lac; Erica Breitenstein of West Bend; Megan Calbaum of Princeton; Nicole Claerbout of West Bend; Danielle Cleland of Fond du Lac; Jamie Droppers of West Bend; Amanda Dylak of Beaver Dam; April Eck of Potosi; Briar Eck of Potosi; Nikki Eiring of Fond du Lac; Melissa Endries of Pipe; Katherine Erickson of Cedarburg; Carissa Ewald of Ripon; Ben Falter of West Bend; Cassie Florine of Hartford; Hunter Godfroy of Oakfield; Holly Hoagland of West Bend; Emma Holland of Waupun; Kelly Jacobs of Fond du Lac; Andrew Keel of Beaver Dam; Aubrey Kerr of West Bend; Maggie Kollmann of Fond du Lac; Caroline Krebs of West Bend; Jamie Nicholas of Waupun; Jared Obendorfer of West Bend; Jennifer Plummer of Sun Prairie; Jonathan Ratzel of Fredonia; Parker Resop of Horicon; Katie Retzlaff of North Lake; Jennifer Roeseler of Fond du Lac; Katrina  Salva of Watertown; Frederick Schellgell of Oshkosh; Amanda Schmidt of Beaver Dam; Julie Schumacher of Fond du Lac; Catherine Seibel of Fond du Lac; Kaitlyn Shallow of Watertown; Katelyn Sharp of Ripon; Natasha Sokoloff of New Holstein; Riley Stegemeyer of Slinger; Jonathan Szczesny of Horicon; Courtney Tennies of Kewaskum;  Alexi Turnage of Fond du Lac; Chelsea Turner of Fond du Lac; Mikayla Van Ooyen of Kewaskum; Christian Walding of Milwaukee; Aubrey Weidemann of Columbus; Kaitlyn Woo of West Bend; Shelby Wulff of Waupun; Tanya Zangl of Fond du Lac.

The students accepted their nursing diplomas at the College’s annual commencement ceremony on May 18. They will continue studying through the early part of the summer in preparation for their National Council Licensure Examination to earn their Registered Nursing License. In 2018, Moraine Park’s nursing pass rates were an impressive 99 percent, and currently, the program ranks in the top 10 for nursing programs in Wisconsin.

For more information on Moraine Park’s nursing program, visit morainepark.edu/nursing.