SINCLAIR NURSES READY TO DEPLOY
This year Sinclair Community College graduated nearly 140 nursing students who will join the pipeline of health care workers that will begin their careers fighting on the front lines of the global coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, the college this month graduated more than 700 health care students who earned degrees and certificates in Chemical Dependency Counseling, Nurse Aide Training, Emergency Medical Technician, Dental Hygiene, Respiratory Care and Pharmacy Tech.
Madison Herres, a nursing graduate from Kettering, said she’s looking forward to using her skills to help others.
“I got offered a job before graduating, which is huge. It’s a huge honor to be on the front lines giving back to my community,” Herres explained. “This community has given so much and helped me achieve so much. I believe being a nurse is my purpose in life.”
Jessica McLucas of Oxford is also a Sinclair nursing graduate, and she said her internship experiences have prepared her well to perform as a nurse.
“The program at Sinclair was overall amazing, and my instructors were incredibly helpful,” McLucas said. “I also got the opportunity to intern at many different hospital settings across the Dayton region. I fell in love with the labor and delivery unit, and that is where I want to serve.”
She added that these are truly challenging times and she wants to encourage everyone out there to be kind to others and follow directives with regards to safety and health.
“I’ve been engaging in activities that I enjoy, like hiking and I also got a new puppy that has helped me through these trying times,” McLucas said.
As demand for nurses across the country increases to treat the coronavirus outbreak, the average weekly pay for travel nurses has nearly doubled, according to recent findings from health care staffing platform NurseFly.
There was a 76% increase in average nurse pay nationwide since March, and some hospitals are paying crisis/ pandemic rates of up to $4,400 weekly to quickly staff up for the caring of COVID-19 patients, the site reported.
A recent study conducted by NursingExplorer.com, a source for prospective students to review all nursing programs in the United States, ranked Sinclair College’s Nursing Program first out of a total of 107 schools that was evaluated in the state of Ohio.
Contact this reporter at 937-225-0586 or email Wayne.Baker@coxinc.com.