CB Tech class teaches career, life lessons
CB Tech Jennifer Santiago (back) goes through mental exercises with a resident at Summerwood extended care facility. CB Tech’s professional medical careers class provides students with real-world experience.
MOSES LAKE — The whole point of going to school, of course, is for kids to figure out what they want to do and give them skills to help them reach their goals. Not all of those lessons come in the classroom.
The professional medical careers class at Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center includes training that qualifies students to take the certified nursing assistant test. Part of the training takes any prospective CNA – high school kids included – into the real world of medical care. And the contact with real patients makes a real difference, according to students in the program.
“It’s not just bookwork,” said Jennifer Santiago, a junior at Ephrata High School.
Students do their clinical training at Summerwood and Columbia Crest, said MLHS junior Jayden Orozco. Both are extended care facilities, with Summerwood specializing in care of Alzheimer’s patients. At Columbia Crest the jobs resemble what CNAs would do in a hospital, Jayden said. It's a five-week course, with about two weeks at Columbia Crest, said instructor Misty Fuller.
Students spend their time doing what all CNAs do, helping residents, sometimes with intimate daily tasks like taking a shower. Certified nursing assistants do more than help people with physical needs. On Wednesday afternoon CB Tech students were doing exercises with Summerwood residents, going through pictures and books, looking through the items in a jewelry box.
“It (the clinical training) gives you a feel for what it’s like,” said Aleaha Matthews, a senior at Moses Lake High School. “It’s getting us ready to pursue our careers as nurses,” said MLHS junior Hannah Vasquez. The lessons apply to all medical fields; Jennifer said she’s interested in a career as a doctor, and the lessons she’s learned in class have confirmed that decision.
And students who aren’t sure about pursuing a medical career get experience to help them decide whether or not it’s for them, Jennifer said. Fuller said that’s one of the goals. But if students decide medicine isn’t for them, the CNA certification gives them a workplace skill they can use while they’re looking for or training for another career, Fuller said.
Sometimes students learn even bigger lessons. Looking back on her attitude when she started the class, Hannah said, she wasn’t taking it all that seriously. and she wasn't sure she could do the work. “I’ve grown a lot from this program,” she said.
Real-world medical care involves real-world challenges, sometimes big ones. Some Summerwood patients don’t get many visitors, Hannah said. “I know I can make that impact on them,” that they might not get otherwise, she said.
The program allows the CB Tech students to get to know the Summerwood residents, learn about their lives, Jayden said. “It’s very emotional leaving (after class),” Aleaha said.
She knew she wanted to be a nurse, and this experience has reinforced that decision, Jayden said.
“This has made my love for it stronger,” Hannah said.