A Helping Hand

Nursing is about as demanding a job as there is at Beacon Health System. Long hours, caring for multiple patients and paperwork can stretch nurses beyond their ability to take care of everything in a timely manner. This is where nursing assistants make a huge difference in addressing the smaller, yet still vitally important aspects of daily living patient care.

At Elkhart General, nursing staff recently opened the hiring door wider to nursing assistants with no clinical experience, but yet with a passion to serve in the medical field. Previously, the application process required nursing assistants be certified, meaning extensive schooling and training to perform daily living tasks like bathing, moving and oral care of patients.

Led by Renee Miller, RN, MSN, MHA, CMSRN, Director of Nursing Education, a four-day training program was launched in September for nursing assistants who needed an understanding of basic patient care skills.

Renee Miller is working with a team of other nurses, Marcie Carlsen, Brenda Pressler, Coreena Schroyer and Bri Poorman, to train the nursing assistants.

“We want to assist those who want to learn more about health care and work towards their nursing professional journey,” says Renee.

Six associates completed the training program in September and October, including: Kelly Harper, PCU; Erica Kirk, PSCU; Caitlyn Miller, PCU; Angela Burkhart, PCU; and Dina Williams, Oncology; and Mindy Sleeper.

While the six were non-experienced in the medical field, three are early on in nursing school and wanted some exposure to the hospital setting.

“I can see that working as a nursing assistant will give me on-the-floor experience for when I get into nursing school,” says Kelly. “This job has made me a more sociable person. I am able to interact with patients and their families better.”

Erica found the training enormously helpful.

“The training really did prepare me for working in health care,” says Erica.

Now after almost two months, I am even more excited about my future, both personally and professionally.”