LABOR OF LOVE
Jasper campus churns out nursing students for tomorrow
By JIMMY GALVAN

MEMBERS OF THE CURRENT LVN class at Jasper's branch of Angelina College watch as instructor Nadia Martindale works on a life-like manequin during a nursing class.The students are scheduled to graduate from the school in December of this year with their LVN certificates.

For Nadia Martindale, teaching students at the Jasper Teaching Center of Angelina College is a labor of love.

"I love nursing and teaching," Martindale said. "By teaching them, I am hoping that I am transferring my love for nursing so they will want to take care of their patients and give good quality care in the workforce.

"That is why I do this - I don't do it for the money, if I did I wouldn't be here," Martindale said.

She said during her years in nursing, the major changes in the field have come with the advent of technology.

"It grows every day," Martindale said. "When I started, you did everything by pencil and paper."

She also pointed out the changes in the teaching field of nursing as well.

"The school experts are saying that within 10 years almost all of the major universities will be online and there will be very few classroom settings anymore," Martindale said. "That's the major change in nursing in that we are going to more online classes."

This would eliminate the hands-on teaching approach that Martindale says is valuable for new nursing students.

"I think it is very important for our students that they receive the hands-on teaching," Martindale said.

When you strip away all the technology, a good nurse is still judged by her bedside manner, Martindale said that is something she stresses to her students everyday.

"The quality of care comes with talking and dealing personally with your patients," Martindale said. "That is why I like and teach vocational nursing. That is where you get that one-onone with patients."

She often refers to a statement taught to her many years ago by Dr. Joe Dickerson.

"If you know anything about medicine around here, you know that Dr. Joe Dickerson will tell you to listen to your patient. Always go back to the old-time way of doing things if you are unsure about something," Martindale said. "That is the way he taught me and that is the way I believe in doing things as well.

"Bedside nursing is still there and always will be there," Martindale said. "You have to have nurses."

And for those seeking a nursing career, Martindale firmly believes a strong foundation can be found at the Jasper campus.

"We have a wonderful nursing facility here," Martindale said. "Comparative to Lufkin's campus, we have everything that they have."

She pointed to a new nursing lab that is being used exclusively by nursing student at the Jasper campus.

"We are very fortunate to have all that we have in Jasper," Martindale said. "With the community support that we have, we are able to have all these things for our students."

Another new aspect for the students this year is the introduction of the I-TV, which allows campus instruction throughout the Angelina College district. An instructor in Lufkin or Crockett via the I-TV program can now teach students in Jasper.

"This allows us to cut down on costs as far as professors are concerned," Martindale said. "And it is very difficult to get nursing professors these days. What the academic world pays us is minimal to what the real world pays us."

Martindale admitted that at first she was not thrilled with using the I-TV program and teaching students in Lufkin and Crockett via a television screen.

"I am a very interactive teacher and I like to talk directly to them. It's hard to do that with 37 students in Lufkin when I am here in

Jasper," Martindale said. "The world is going high tech and the nursing field is moving along with it."

Presently, there are 10 new nursing students enrolled at the Jasper campus that Martindale deals with directly. These students will graduate in December with nursing certificates and head into the work field. That is a change from the former schedule for nursing students where their schedule ran from August to July.

"The reason we changed it was because of funding for the students," Martindale said. "By starting in January, students now receive money for the whole year."

This year's crop of nursing students is learning basic vocational nursing skills.

"The vocational nurse is the bedside nurse," Martindale said. "He or she is the nurse that goes in and gives the meds and does the hands-on stuff with the patient.

"That is why I love teaching vocational nurses because I am a bedside nurse," Martindale said. "I am an RN and love to do that."

She beams as she talks about the passing rate for the Jasper campus. In the nursing program, 90 percent of the students have passed the class and moved closer to the nursing profession.

When these students graduate in December they will possess a certificate of vocational nursing and will be able to sit for the state board nursing exam.

The Jasper campus is a product of the Jasper Higher Education Foundation. Martindale said without its support, the campus would still be located in the halls of Jasper High School.

One of the foundation's newest contributions is the addition of a full lab that allows the Jasper campus to now offer transition lasses for LVN to RN.

The lack of Anatomy and Physiology classes at the Jasper campus meant no transition classes. With the addition of the lab, as provided by the foundation, those classes are now being offered at the Jasper campus.

"Students now no longer have to travel to Lufkin to get the classes they need to go to RN school," Martindale said.

Last year, the Jasper campus graduated its first transition class and in May, a second class will graduate.

"We need nurses and we want those vocational nurses to go on and become RNs. We want to make it as easy as possible," Martindale said.