‘Challenge CNA’ to bring certification to students

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

McKenzie Thomas has just graduated from high school, but she isn’t leaving Charles City behind just yet. Since the fall of 2016, Thomas has been exploring the needs of rural healthcare — and with the help of her community partners, she may have found a piece of the solution.

Thomas presented her Iowa BIG North initiative at the Charles City Board of Education’s meeting on Monday night, along with Chautauqua Guest Homes representatives Sue Ayers, administrator, and Kathy Cerwinske, nurse manager. Thomas wanted to address the problems students have trying to take CNA certification classes, and Ayers and Cerwinske have seen the need.

“Donna and I have been working on trying to get students certified as Certified Nursing Assistants for a long time without success. We’re hoping that we’re on the brink of that now,” Ayers told the board.

“We had kids who wanted to be CNAs, but they just didn’t have the time outside of school to take the classes,” Thomas said.

Thomas is developing the Challenge CNA program in Charles City, which will be a hybrid course based the “Prepare to Care” and the American Healthcare Association materials. The 75-hour program is mostly online for students, and lab and clinical work would be done through Chautauqua Guest Homes. The course is non-accredited because CNAs only need to be registered, Thomas said.

“We thought, why go through the different obstacles to be accredited if you really didn’t need to,” Thomas told the board.

The program will only take ten students in it’s first year. Applicants must have good grades and attendance, submit a resume and interview with Chautauqua management before being accepted.

Thomas and Ayers are applying for a Telligen Community Initiative healthcare grant, asking for $50,000 to help cover the costs, including an instructor, textbooks and program candidate background checks. The grant must be signed by Superintendent Dan Cox before it can be submitted, Ayers said. The group is hopeful Challenge CNA could begin in spring 2018.

“They expect about 300 applications, but he said he’s never seen anything unique like this prior,” Ayers said of the Telligen program coordinator.

Telligen will decide who progresses to the next level of the application process in August, Ayers said.

“On a side note, McKenzie has been wonderful to work with,” Ayers added.

Getting younger people certified as a CNA will give students interested in healthcare a step up as they continue through their education, she said.

The group presented a letter of support for the program written by Ryan Stewart, a 2011 graduate of Charles City who pursued a future in the healthcare industry. Stewart was a CNA at Chautauqua Guest Homes, Ayers said.

“He’s one of our stars. He finished his CNA, he took the test without taking the course, came to work for us spring breaks, holidays,” Ayers said. “His statement goes on to talk about how he saved himself one academic year, because he already had those things that he needed on board.”

The program will benefit Chautauqua just as much as it will students, Ayers said.

“These students would be able to come work for us at our really high-need times, which are breakfast time in the morning, and then at supper time and bedtime, weekends, holidays,” Ayers said. “This is a win-win for all of us involved, I think.”