Editorial: Career seekers thrive at Allied Health Center

As a new semester at Merced Community College begins, about 30 determined students are preparing to journey through final coursework that will put them into one of the largest health care occupations in the nation.

For two years, these students have put in the effort for prerequisites needed to enter the Allied Health Center at Merced Community College.

In two more years, a new group of registered nurses, vocational nurses, radiology technologists, and other similar professions will be entering the workforce as they join area hospitals, clinics and care facilities.

Once a student makes the decision to attend MCC, and believes that they may be interested in the opportunities that the Allied Health Center has to offer, Licensed Vocational Nurse Program Director and Professor Caren D. Col-Hamm says there is one crucial step to get things started off on the right foot.

“I think it is important for students to know that they should start off with a counselor ,” she said. “That way there is a plan, and if they decide that they want to be a nurse, they won’t be spinning their wheels for two semesters --- which lessens their chance of getting into any of these programs.”

According to Certified Nursing Assistant Program Director Kitty Cazares, prerequisite classes play an important role in the admissions process into the Licensed Vocational and Registered Nursing programs.

“We have what’s called merit based scores that were implemented by the chancellor’s office … in order to make sure everyone who comes in would be successful,” Cazares said.

The point system includes writing and comprehension, core health sciences such as anatomy, physiology and microbology and overall Grade Point Average.

So, as long as students receive a final score from the merit based score system, and have all prerequisites met, they are then able to take the next step in the process.

“Students then go into a lottery,” Cazares said. “We get about 150 applicants, and this last year, we picked 30 for the fall semester, 30 for the spring semester, and 10 alternates. Those aren’t bad odds,” said Cazares.

She explained that the lottery system in use was chosen by faculty from various methods of acceptance put forth by the state.”We were given a lot of money to expand our program, we were accepting 24 students once a year, and then went to 24 students twice a year, and now were accepting 30 students twice a year.”

Says Diagnostic Radiologic Program Director Judy Rose , “I tell students ‘when you look at the wait list don’t get discouraged.’ A lot of students will apply to every program offered at every school in the area, in hopes of getting into one. They will keep their finger in each program until the last minute when they are accepted by one and then they will pull out of all of them.”

Accepted students will benefit from the new Allied Health Center facility and new state-of-the-art systems that they will soon be working with once employed. In addition to $450,000 worth of technology investment, the nursing programs have received a “truly amazing” addition to the classroom.

“We are getting into simulations for nursing,” Cazares said. “We just bought a simulation nursing mannequin. They actually breathe, have blood pressure, they have pulses and their eyes blink. We can speak through them as a patient would. We have programs to make their skin become pale or create wounds.”

The new nursing simulation mannequins are able to provide prospective nurses an experience they will commonly encounter prior to entering the workforce. “We go through labor delivery, the surgical area, the clinics, so they get a lot of exposure.

So once they get their license they’re ready to go because they’ve gotten a little bit
of everything.”

Advanced student who are reaching the end of their education will begin receiving college credit through work at valley hospitals in a partnership used to create a well-rounded education.

“Our service area goes to Madera, Merced, Turlock, Modesto, Sonora, Los Banos, Tracy and we are picking up a facility in Stockton,” Rose said. “So when our students do their clinical rotations --- they have a minimum of three and a maximum of four --- they come back with a wealth of experience from working in a big hospital, a small hospital, and a clinic. They end up very well rounded and we make sure they are inside one of the nursing departments.”

Clinical Instructor Claire Alvarez prepares advanced students by working with them in the classroom and giving them a direct link to Mercy Medical Center in Merced.

Alvarez’s position allows her to work in the school, speaking with them and presenting them with real world situations. But it doesn’t stop there: “I’ll be in the hospital for two days of my week, doing two 12-hour shifts, working alongside of the students, making sure they’re safe, protecting the patients, and making sure everyone is doing okay.”

According to Cazares, students exiting the program are able to be hired and make $60,000 with only having spent $2,000-$3,000 in education costs. In addition, the Allied Health Center offers scholarships.

What keeps the career path moving forward, she says, is when “a patient says thanks you, and you can see it in their eyes that you have touched them.”

More information can be found inside of the Allied Health Center located on the main Merced Campus or by calling 384-6371, Monday through Friday. Additional information can be found online by logging onto www.mccd.edu/alliedhealth.