High School Students Prepare For The Real Thing At Nursing Camp

ABINGDON, Va. – Rescue workers stabilize the overturned car and prepare to use the jaws of life to extract a crash victim as a Wings Air Rescue helicopter sets down in a nearby parking lot.

Usually the situation isn’t good when these folks are called in, but Tuesday was a bit different: Everyone walked away from the scene at Virginia Highlands Community College – and the rescuers’ efforts were applauded by a crowd of high school students watching the demonstration.

“I think it was really cool,” said Danielle Fry, 17, a senior at Marion Senior High School and one of 18 participants in a week-long nursing camp designed to expose high-schoolers to a variety of nursing careers.

The camp included demonstrations that simulate the care of a child with a burn and an on-the-job heart attack, among other hands-on activities, said Gwendalyn Slone, director of the Nursing Workforce Diversity Program, which is funded by a federal grant and includes camps at three area colleges: VHCC, Southwest Virginia Community College and Mountain Empire Community College.

“With the nursing shortage nationwide, this is a good recruitment tool,” Slone said. “Most of our students here thought that nursing just meant carrying bedpans, and this has been a great opportunity to show them what a diverse field this is.”

She said Virginia is on track to have a shortage by 2015 of 26,000 nurses beyond what the state’s schools can train – meaning a need to expand training programs as well as attract students.

Slone said a typical nursing program takes two years, but high school students can complete a licensed practical nurse program through technical school programs, leaving just one year of training after high school to become a registered nurse.

“We had doubts about being a nurse, then we came here,” said Meagan Dial, 15, a sophomore at Sullivan Central High School, who was attending the camp with best friend Jenny Hill, also a 15-year-old sophomore. “You get to see how fun it looks.”

Earning potential was also a consideration for some of the students: Slone said entry-level nurses with an associate’s degree can earn $40,000 a year – and nurse practitioners, who complete a master’s degree, can earn $150,000 a year.

Josh Adams, an 18-year-old graduate of Chilhowie High School, said he’s interested in nursing “because of the money” and plans to start in the nursing program at VHCC this fall. With the promise of secure, good-paying jobs in his chosen career field, he said he had expected to see more young men in the class.

Fry said she expects that to change, because of lingering economic questions for high school graduates, a national nursing shortage and the attraction of a guaranteed, good-paying job.

“There are not many jobs you can get anymore besides factories and things. There are only so many jobs because the economy is hard,” Fry said. But there will be a need for nurses, she said, “as long as there are patients.”

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