Nursing program gets elbow room

North Lake College has been expanded to include a satellite campus for El Centro College’s Nursing Program.

The expansion of the Nursing Program Center in the T-Building gives elbowroom to nearly 200 participating students to the four-semester program.

At completion of the program, students will receive their degrees from El Centro College.

Before North Lake offered the nursing program, students had to drive to Dallas.

Nursing students are given many skills to be tested and quizzed over. These skills include proper hand washing and instruction on giving proper injections to patients. Skills used every day at a real hospital are paramount in the program.

Each individual skills lab has five beds, and two are located in a skill testing area, making a total of twenty-two beds. One of the most valuable pieces of new equipment has been the acquisition of medical mannequins.

“We’re trying to simulate a hospital environment — a miniature hospital is what we try to provide the students,” said Iris Urday, the nursing skills lab supervisor.

Students practice their nursing skills on two full-body mannequins, along with countless mannequin limbs. These limbs are used for skill sharpening.

“We have special models that have simulated muscles, so that they can learn to give injections in the correct place,” said Urday.

Another important purchase was a new computer lab, which is a healthy part of the curriculum. The program is half lecture and theory based, and half skills-based. Students learn the theory along with hands-on learning.

Students involved with the program welcome the new funding. “We wish that we had these facilities earlier,” said Lorraine Jackson, a third semester student who had witnessed the cramped conditions before. “Everything was in a box,” she added.

Students are excited about the opportunities they will receive after completing their training.

“There are so many different types of nursing you can get into once you graduate. You can be an OR [operating room] nurse, a school nurse,” said Jackson.

Stability is another big reason why these students are take up nursing. “You’ll always have a job,” said third semester student Erika Gonzalez.

The nursing program at North Lake is not a walk in the park for its participants. “I think a lot of people come to this program with the intention that its going to be easy. It’s very demanding,” said Gonzalez.

Jackson agrees. “This is your life for two years,” she said.

For more information, there will be a information session on Nov. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. in room A-206.

A ribbon-cutting will be held Nov. 18 at 10:30 a.m. at the south entrance to the T-Building.