{"id":4291,"date":"2005-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4291"},"modified":"2017-07-17T12:20:21","modified_gmt":"2017-07-17T19:20:21","slug":"san-marcos-nursing-students-go-on-rounds-in-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4291","title":{"rendered":"San Marcos nursing students go on rounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Marcos High<\/a> student nurses were still beaming from their recent trip to Boston for the National Youth Leadership Forum on Nursing<\/a>. There they had the chance to meet like-minded students from all over the country, job-shadow nurses at several Boston hospitals, and hear from medical experts about the different aspects of a nursing career.<\/p>\n

“It was … a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said senior Katie Coy, who has been accepted to the nursing program at Azusa Pacific University.<\/p>\n

“Fun,” “educational,” “awesome” and “even better than expected” were some of the reviews given by the six seniors who attended the conference. All of them are third-year students in the school’s Health Academy<\/a>, now enrolled in the C.N.A. (Certified Nursing Assistant program) class in cooperation with Santa Barbara City College.<\/p>\n

What’s not to be excited about?<\/p>\n

Gloria M. Ochoa observed the electrophysiology lab, Brenda Rubio worked in a transplant unit, and Coy and Rachel Myers got to experience the cardiac unit. Courtney Giers learned how to draw blood and Maria Gutierrez even got to see a baby being born.<\/p>\n

All of the girls left their experience even more convinced that they want to be nurses.<\/p>\n

“I want more,” said Ochoa. “Usually I expect hospitals to be cold places, where you get done what you need to be done and you’re out of there. But that’s not how it is, actually. It’s warm, they’re friendly, and they all work together. It’s like a family.”<\/p>\n

The girls will soon get to experience that nursing camaraderie again. After completing internships at Samarkand, in April they will start new internships, at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.<\/p>\n

“We’re thrilled to have the kids here working,” said Pat Doherty, director of volunteer services. “They have a week or two in a variety of areas within in the hospital for them to observe, learn about the different areas and be mentored by the staff.”<\/p>\n

Doherty noted that several students who went through the San Marcos program three years ago are now student nurses at the hospital and studying at SBCC.<\/p>\n

In addition to their trip, the students said meeting other teens made them realize how unique the San Marcos program is.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t hear of anything like the Health Academy,” Giers said.<\/p>\n

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on March 24, 2005.<\/a><\/h6>\n

Share this:<\/h3>