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March 11, 2021Partnerships Allow Capital Region BOCES Adult Students To Join The COVID Fight In Local Healthcare Facilities
Thanks to numerous partnerships Capital Region BOCES maintains with area healthcare facilities, adult nursing students are taking part in clinical hours and joining the fight against COVID.
More than 130 full- and part-time students in the BOCES program recently started their clinical hours at St. Peter’s Hospital, Van Rensselaer Manor, Shaker Place Rehabilitation & Nursing Center and Baptist Health Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
It is the first time since the world ground to a halt because of COVID in March 2020 that adult nursing students have been able to complete the clinical hours that are a New York State requirement for them to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN).
“This is what we have been waiting for since day one,” said Abigale McKenzie, a Cambride resident who attends the full-tie program.
“This is something I wanted to do to improve my future and I felt it was necessary, especially now with the pandemic, to get into it,” added classmate Blair Pheonix, who attends the program from Albany.
To allow the students to begin their clinical rotation hours, BOCES worked with their partners to get the students tested and prepared to work safely.
In early February, WellNow nurses administered fit tests to adult students who would do their clinical hours at St. Peter’s, ensuring their respirator’s face piece fits their faces. Then, in late-February, students were nasal swab tested for COVID, many of them at the school by a representative of Shaker Place, and others at the facilities they will be taking their rounds in – Baptist Health and Van Rensselaer Manor.
“This has been huge. We have been working on this since the beginning and we have finally gotten to the point that our students are doing their clinicals. Everyone has worked so hard to get to this point,’ said Paula Negri, principal of the Adult Health Careers program. “We have been waiting for this day.”
