Area Students Graduate with more than just a High School Diploma

Perry High School, Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), and Dallas County Hospital have partnered to allow 9 juniors and seniors from Perry, Panorama, Adel-Desoto-Minburn and Woodward-Granger the opportunity to take 4, 3-credit hour courses through DMACC.  Introduction to Health Care Careers challenged the students to observe professional roles in the fields of pharmacy, physical therapy, nursing, physicians, clinics, laboratory and radiology. Additional course work included medical terminology and completion of the nurse aide and advanced nurse aide courses.

With the completion of these four courses, students have the tools to take and pass the State of Iowa Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) test with the goal of working in a hospital or nursing home setting or even furthering their education to become a registered nurse or physician. 

As a complement to their in-class work, the students completed a total of 60 hours of practical work at the Rowley Masonic Home and Dallas County Hospital.  “It gave them a taste of what it’s like to do morning cares and bedtime care,” their instructor Sally Swenson, RN said, “The students were also able to observe surgeries and diagnostic testing.”  This type of hands-on interaction quickly became one of the favorite activities the students participated in. 

This course will be offered again starting with the 2010-11 school year thanks to further partnerships between the college, school district, and the hospital. The job demand is high and the minute a student’s graduates with a Certified Nurse Aide degree they can be working in a variety of settings from home health, long term care, to a hospital.  It is also a great foundation on which to build a future in healthcare and many of the students will be pursing health-related degrees in different fields. 

Service Heroes of the Month Honored at DCH

Congratulations to Ron Hager and Myles Hegstrom, from the DCH Facilities Department, for being named April’s Service Hero of the Month. Both Myles and Ron recently went above and beyond their job descriptions to help patients in need.

Ron was recognized for helping a Cardiac Rehab patient, who was struggling to catch her breath in the Atrium of the hospital. Ron took it upon himself to find a wheelchair and personally brought her downstairs to her appointment. She later told the Cardiac Rehab staff how much she appreciated his help and reassurance.

Myles was recognized on a recent patient satisfaction survey for helping a family that was being discharged from the Emergency Department. Myles retrieved the family’s car from the parking lot, drove it to the front entrance, and carried the young boy to the car.

“I appreciate how these two individuals went out of their way to help patients,” said Bill Griffith, Facilities Manager. “We are lucky to have such selfless members on our Team.” 

The Service Hero of the Month is decided on each month by a team of hospital employees based on patient feedback, patient satisfaction results and comments made on the surveys.  Dallas County Hospital continues to focus on service excellence and has been nationally recognized in the last year for improvements and consistent results in the Emergency Department, Inpatient and Surgery Areas.