Covington High students training now for future careers

Covington High School is well-known for its wide variety of educational programs. One such program is the Certified Nursing Assistant Program (C.N.A.) which CHS has offered for more than a decade.

 

The specialized class benefits students who wish to enroll in health related programs after high school. Those who complete the course will be able to work as a C.N.A. or ECG technician through college, and this prior experience is an advantage when applying to colleges with medical programs.

 

Lora Haddox has been the C.N.A. teacher at Covington for four and a half years. She is a Registered Nurse and currently works at Northshore Technical College as a C.N.A. Instructor. Upon completion of the fall semester, Mrs. Haddox's students will have received all classroom and clinical requirements for CPR- Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers. They will also be certified as a Certified Nursing Assistant with the State of Louisiana; in the spring semester students will receive an ECG Technician certificate.

 

In the classroom students learn from the Nursing Assistant Handbook. The class covers all the different body systems, many common disorders, and disease processes. The most important aspect the students are taught is personal care for a patient, which includes many treatments and nursing procedures. C.N.A. student Abbigail Monlezun commented on her classroom experience saying, "You learn all the tasks necessary to help a patient with daily needs, along with resident privacy, rights, and respect."

 

To complete classroom requirements, C.N.A. students travel to the Forest Manor Nursing Home to complete clinicals, and they also travel to the St. Tammany Parish Hospital to rotate and view the different hospital departments. Student Kacee Kidder comments on their work at Forest Manor saying, "We provide assistance to the residents to get them to and from their rooms and help them with feeding. We also socialize with them and observe the wound care nurse."

 

The program provides hands on activities and experience in several different healthcare settings, which helps students decide on their career path. Paige Buisson talks about how the C.N.A. program has helped prepare her for her future in the medical field. She says, "When I get to nursing school I will already know how to properly care for patients and will be prepared for required hands on activities."

 

The C.N.A. class is just one of the several opportunities at Covington High for students to get a head start for college and on their future career. Covington High is proud of its C.N.A. students and wishes them the best in their medical careers.