As an Advisory Board member of Anoka Tech’s Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program and frequent employer of the college’s graduates, Nicoleen Meyer, vice president of clinical services at Accurate Home Care sees the difference in Anoka Tech students. The company serves the local community to provide a variety of services from personal care assistance, homemaking services and traditional home health to help ensure people can remain independent in their own homes.
Over the past several months, their business has seen an upturn in patients and Meyer shared, they want to hire Anoka Tech grads. Why? “Anoka Tech’s LPN program is an accredited program, which is important. It’s also affordable and offers a lot of quality clinical opportunities because of its location,” shared Meyer.
Meyer has a long history in the industry and the nursing staff she sees providing the highest quality of care are typically those who start in patient care roles, such as a home health aide, medical assistant or nursing assistant. Anoka Tech offers nine patient care programs outside of practical nursing and Meyer often encourages people interested in a health care career to get their start in one of those programs as they continue their education toward a nursing degree.
“I always encourage people to be open to considering all avenues in health care and nursing so they can learn what you want to do and don’t want to do,” said Meyer. “Starting in those roles makes you marketable and gives you a holistic understanding of patient care.”
Anoka Technical College exists to serve students and the surrounding community with the finest career and technical education in Minnesota. This mission would not be possible without mutually beneficial partnerships throughout multiple sectors in the community. This story is an excerpt from the article “Prosperity in Partnerships” in the Anoka Technical College Summer Community Newsletter, Issue 3 highlighting a few of the college’s partners.
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