With Bristol Regional's help, popular program for LPNs coming to Bristol campus
BRISTOL – Ask Stacey Blevins about the year she spent at Tennessee Technology Center in Elizabethton training to be a licensed practical nurse, and she’s quick with an answer.
“I wouldn’t trade the experience I had there for anything,” said Blevins, now the transfer coordinator at Bristol Regional Medical Center.
What Blevins might have changed was the drive. The routine was always the same: Get up early, drop the kids off, make the drive over to Elizabethton – it all consumed well more than an hour each day.
“It would’ve been great if it had been five minutes away instead of 45 minutes away,” Blevins said.
Now, it is. Tennessee Technology Center will offer its first practical nursing program in Bristol thanks to a $50,000 gift from Bristol Regional that will defray program costs.
Classes will begin Jan. 2 and will be taught at East Tennessee State University at Bristol, 1227 Volunteer Parkway. Students must have a high school diploma or G.E.D. and pass the Nursing Entrance Test. Applications for the next Nursing Entrance Test are available at ETSU at Bristol, and the test will be administered there on Monday, Oct. 15, at 9:30 a.m.
Two informational sessions about the LPN program will be held in the coming days. Nursing faculty from Tennessee Technology Center will be on hand to answer questions on Wednesday, Sept. 26, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the cafeteria at Bristol Regional and also from 10 a.m. to noon, Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the YWCA, 106 State St.
“We’re excited that we’ll be able to bring our program to students in Bristol,” said Jerry Patton, director of Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton. “Bristol Regional Medical Center has been a great partner with us in expanding the reach of our practical nursing program. Without Bristol Regional’s help, this opportunity wouldn’t become a reality.”
An expected influx of LPNs who attend Tennessee Technology Center classes at ETSU-Bristol will be a welcome reality at Bristol Regional, said Donna Vallely, vice president of patient care services.
“Licensed practical nurses are crucial in delivering the superior patient care we strive for here at Bristol Regional,” Vallely said. “There are already great career opportunities for LPNs here now, and there will be in the future, too. The need for LPNs – especially those who graduate from a strong program – isn’t something that’s going away. And Tennessee Technology Center’s practical nursing program has a great reputation.”
Blevins worked at Bristol Regional as a nursing assistant on weekends while completing her year of coursework in Elizabethton. And coursework doesn’t necessarily mean all bookwork, she said.
“We got tons of hands-on experience,” Blevins said. “My last semester we were in the clinical setting four days a week and the classroom only one. You weren’t just reading about what you were going to be doing – you were doing it. I can say that when I left the program, I felt very comfortable taking care of patients.
“And then I was fortunate in that I got hired on at 4-West where I worked under this wonderful group of nurses who took me under their wing and showed me everything. They had the confidence in me to let me do meaningful things.”
Blevins’ skills led her to her role at Bristol Regional, and it’s a crucial one. When Bristol Regional was searching for a transfer coordinator, Blevins was selected for the job. Since then, this program – designed so a nurse eases the way for patient transfers from outlying hospitals into Bristol Regional – has tripled in volume in just two years.
Just as the job has grown, Blevins is growing, too, continuing her education in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
“I am going back to school,” Blevins said, “but I wouldn’t change anything about the experience I got from Tennessee Technology Center.”
Wellmont Health System’s relationship with Tennessee Technology Center has been strong for years, as Holston Valley Medical Center received the Chancellor’s Award from the Tennessee Board of Regents for its continued financial and clinical support for the TTC practical nursing program.
For more information about the Tennessee Technology Center practical nursing program at Bristol, please call Ranee Dula at 1-888-986-2368, extension 410, or visit www.ttcelizabethton.edu . Depending on need, financial assistance through state and Pell grants may be available.
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