Wayzata High School Program Helps Train Future Nursing Assistants
There are certain tasks in daily life that most of us take for granted.
But as we age into our golden years, Father Time will come calling, and simple, everyday tasks — like getting in and out of bed — become an intense challenge.
That’s where people like Reese Woodward come in. The Wayzata High School junior is one the students who signed up for the school’s inaugural Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) class.
“I’m interested in going into the medical field, so I wanted to see if maybe nursing was a path I wanted to pursue, because this gives you a lot of hands on experience,” said Woodward.
CNAs work in assisted living homes, helping residents with everyday needs such as bathing, walking and brushing their teeth.
But before these Wayzata students get to that point, they have to practice on each other.
During a recent class at Wayzata, students learned several different tasks, such as helping people get into a side position in bed. Wayzata has trained nurses on staff to help teach the students and evaluate their progress.
Reese Woodward, who is pictured lying in bed, is one of 120 students at Wayzata High School enrolled in a Certified Nursing Assistant class.
“One of the reasons why we chose to go down this path is because nursing is a high demand, high wage career that we know that students have some interest in,” said Tyler Shepard, Wayzata’s associate principal. “So we wanted to be able to provide that entry level experience.”
In this first year, Wayzata had 120 students enroll, making it the largest program in the state.
Demand for Certified Nursing Assistants
As part of this class, the students get hands-on experience at school.
They also get to use their skills at assisted-living sites, applying their training in a real-world setting.
By the time they’re finished, they could all have jobs.
“The number 1 question I get asked is, when can we hire them? So there’s definitely the demand for CNAs and really a lot of health care professions in the years to come,” said Rachel Klick, a CNA instructor at Wayzata.
That high demand for CNAs is one big reason why the school has received a lot of help from different organizations in the form of donated equipment and grant funding.
Those resources will help put students like Woodward in a position to get an early start on their careers in health care.
“I think it’s awesome to have that experience before actually helping real people,” said Woodward.
Wayzata also received funding from the state so that students can take their CNA certification tests at Minneapolis Community and Technical College free of charge. Otherwise, the cost would be $250 per student.
Related: Amid Worker Shortage, Teens Sought for Certified Nursing Assistant Jobs
