Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 31, 1993 TAG: 9301290176
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
VERY HIGH ON HEALTH
Heather Belcher still has a year to go at Floyd County High School. When she graduates, she says, she wants to go to college and become a registered nurse.Matt Tolbert wants to combine law-enforcement and health-care careers when he graduates.
Greg Conner has chosen physical therapy as a career goal. Thirteen other students, all juniors at Floyd County High School, also are planning futures in the health-care field.
Though most of these students are only 16, they are well on their way to professional careers even before graduating from high school - thanks to a business and school partnership with Skyline Manor Nursing Home, which provides the learning environment for these budding health-care providers.
The health occupations program at the school is growing in popularity. A student may enroll as a sophomore, taking classroom instruction. As juniors, students take part in the clinical aspect - the hands-on experience gained at Skyline Manor, a 13-year-old, 60-bed nursing home just outside the town of Floyd. As seniors, students co-op at various health care facilities.
There are 12 seniors, 16 juniors and most recently a staggering 36 sophomores enrolled in the program.
Staggering because state regulations require a student-teacher ratio of 10-to-1 when teaching the clinical side of the course - the work that always has been done at Skyline Manor.
And with only one health occupations teacher at the high school, the growing number of students in the course posed a problem.
As far as health occupations instructor Carol Spengler is concerned, Skyline Manor saved the day when it offered Pat Monroe, the nursing home's in-service coordinator, who does all the training of new personnel.
"Basically, what it's done is afford me to take all 16 juniors to the home at one time," Spengler said. "It's also cost-effective for the high school because Skyline Manor is not charging anything to provide an instructor. They also let us use the facility just about whenever we want."
Another aspect Spengler likes about Monroe's teaching the students is that it gives the students "another point of view."
Monroe "brings with her her own background and experience and she can share that with the students," Spengler said. "We both have different backgrounds and that is good."
So, what's in it for Skyline Manor?
"The work is volunteer, which helps us," said nursing home Administrator Karen Thompson. "And the students become familiar with the residents and the residents look forward to their visits.
"We still maintain the same level of staffing, but this provides an extra service and a lot of one-on-one with the residents - those things are important."
Also important, said Thompson, is that the nursing home has an excellent field of workers to choose from when hiring.
"They are recruitment for us," she said. "They are comfortable with the environment and know the residents - it keeps a lot of them here. And for those who want to go on further, we also have a scholarship program that allows the nursing home to pay for their education."
With next year's class almost double this one, even Skyline Manor's contributions may not be enough. Spengler, Monroe and Calvin Rorrer, director of the vocational school, have not decided how to handle the growing number of students.
"Our plans at this time are not concrete," Rorrer said. "We may have to limit the class, but we hope not. We hope we can work something out with the nursing home. They've been so helpful so far."
One thing Rorrer is pretty sure of is that the county does not have the budget to hire another teacher.
Spengler isn't surprised at the popularity of the class.
"With the economic conditions the way they are, if you look in the paper it is full of jobs in the health-care industry," she said. "This is one of the reasons [the class] has become so popular, because the jobs are there. And the students also like the field."
Lisa Saunders is one of those who simply likes the work.
"I'm definitely going into the health-care field," she said. "[The residents] really appreciate us coming here. You can just see it in their faces. It's hard not to get attached."
Greg Conner plans to be a physical therapist and he, too, says getting to know the residents has made him even more convinced that the health-care field is the place for him.
"Talking to the patients and getting to know them at first was hard," he said. "But then you really get used to them."
Thompson is just glad the class has become popular; she welcomes the growing number of students. It reassures her that yet another strong batch of health-care providers is on its way.
"It's a community relationship," she said. "We open our doors to the community and say, `Look, we'll help you and then you help us.'"