Home Lifestyle Nursing assistant student says RichmondCC teaches individualized care

Nursing assistant student says RichmondCC teaches individualized care

Nursing Assistant student Amy Wilkins accepts her certificate of completion from Dr. Dale McInnis, president of Richmond Community College. Wilkins was the guest speaker for the Nursing Assistant Pinning Ceremony on Wednesday.
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HAMLET — Learning individualized care was the most important thing Amy Wilkins and her fellow classmates learned in the Nursing Assistant program at Richmond Community College. The guest speaker at the Nursing Assistant Pinning Ceremony on Wednesday, Wilkins explained how this goes beyond standard care.

“Individualized care is learning a patient or resident for who they are and not by what a standard guide tells you patients should be,” Wilkins said. “Our RichmondCC instructors taught us that while we have a job to do, doing that job in a compassionate manner gets the job done a lot better.”

Wilkins said no book taught them how to be compassionate; they learned that from their instructors.

“Those skills were pulled from deep inside us by our instructor or the Nursing Assistants we worked with, who taught from their years’ worth of experience performing excellent care in a tender and effective manner,” Wilkins said.

Ninety-one Nursing Assistant students were pinned during a special ceremony held at the Cole Auditorium. Pending passing the NC Certified Nursing Assistant Written and Skills test, they can become Certified Nursing Assistants.

CNAs provide intimate, hands-on healthcare to patients in medical settings, helping with bathing, dressing and the basic activities of life. While CNAs can be found in hospitals, the majority of them work in nursing and residential care facilities, where CNAs interact with patients on a regular basis and get to know them personally. Many CNAs also provide home healthcare services. Carolina Hearts Home Care is now offering paid internships to students in RichmondCC’s Nursing Assistant program, plus sign-on bonuses upon for those who want to continue to work for the agency upon graduation.

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“The value of what you do as a CNA cannot be measured. The role we’re expecting you to play in our healthcare system is so critical,” Dr. Dale McInnis, RichmondCC president, said. “You’re on the front lines, and we’ll all be counting on your to represent our College and yourselves in your new profession.”

McInnis also wished those students well whose next step is to continue their nursing education. One of the requirements for admission into the Associate Degree Nursing program is successful completion of the Nursing Assistant course.

“But if your plan is to head into the workforce, keep in mind there’s nothing more important than the role the nursing assistant plays in our hospitals, our healthcare facilities and nursing homes. We’re counting on you every single day,” he said.

The Cole Auditorium was packed with family and friends of the students, and McInnis made special note of the love and support that they provided to these 91 students who successfully completed the Nursing Assistant program.

To learn more about completing the program at RichmondCC and becoming a CNA, call 910-410-1730 or visit the College’s website at www.richmondcc.edu.



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