New program in Nome certifies 18 nurse assistants

Submitted by Regina Zimmerman
Phone: (907) 443-8407
07/29/04

Eighteen people--six from Nome and 12 from around the region--recently completed the training to become certified nurse assistants at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Northwest Campus in Nome. The students learned how to reposition a patient and how to help a patient walk, move from a bed into a wheelchair, shower, dress and eat.

Quyanna Care Center at Norton Sound Health Corporation has funded and coordinated training of personal care attendants and certified nurse assistants on an occasional basis for years. Participants were required to come to Nome for six weeks, a stay often complicated and sometimes cut short by child care issues. Usually, only a few people attended and even fewer finished training.

Regina Zimmerman of the Northwest Campus in Nome suggested that CNA training be offered by the college for credit. Zimmerman, Gwen Minners of QCC and Charmaine Ramos of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium pulled Kawerak, Inc., ANTHC, and NACTEC (Northwest Alaska Career and Technical Education Center) into the project to create a more sustainable training program. The 18 who completed training in June were the first to benefit from the partnership. Minners attributes the success of the spring 2004 session to the teamwork of the partners.

"We all got together and came up with a plan,"? Minners said. "One person didn’t have to do it all."?

The result was 18 people with marketable job skills, as well as a certification that has become a requirement for admission to many nursing schools.

The recent graduates are: Kimbery Aluska, Bridget Benedict, Stephanie Blanning, Stephanie Foxie, Carmen Hamilton, Denise Haviland, Ebba Katchatag, Elizabeth Michael, Charron Nayokpuk, Davinda Okhtokiyuk, Alberta Olanna, Danitra Oxereok, Kristen Paniptchuk, Pearlene Pete, Xaviera Pete, April Savetilik, Ann Selvey, Nicole Turner.

Contact: Regina Zimmerman, Manager of Program Development, Northwest Campus at (907) 443-8407 or regina.zimmerman@uaf.edu.

Story and photo by Carol Gales; reprint courtesy of Kaniqsirugut News