SCC Vision Online

New & Neat

SCC’s First Year Experience program, Launch: a College Success Seminar, will start this fall. It is a credit course designed to provide support services for first-year students by teaching them how to make the most of their college experience, learn to use key resources and more.

Capitol Theater site

SCC Information Technology students Gary Hamilton and Ronald Pepmeyer were recently selected to create the website for the newly-renovated Capitol Theater in Burlington. The site is live. Visit it at www.burlingtoncapitoltheater.org.

SCC’s Nursing program received a grant in the amount of $2,325 from the Alliant Energy Foundation.  This money will be used to purchase Emergency Carts for the West Burlington and Keokuk campuses.

Jeff Ebbing

SCC Marketing and Communications Director Jeff Ebbing was honored by the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations at its national convention in March. He earned three Gold Paragon awards for SCC’s radio ad series, the Vision publication and brochure design.

SCC’s Trio Upward Bound program recently received a grant for $262,500 to assist 63 eligible students from Burlington High School, Fort Madison High School and Keokuk High School in completing high school and in pursuing college degrees. 

The Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health awarded accreditation to the Emergency Medical Technician–Paramedic program. Congratulations to John Cockrell, Tina Young and instructors for their hard work.

SCC's Dr. Phil Thomas, Laura Menke and DuPont Plant Manager Warren Hoy

SCC’s Fire Science program recently received a forcible entry training door thanks to a grant from DuPont. The door allows students to learn how to safely break down doors during emergencies.

Lending a Helping Hand

In March, SCC Construction Technology students assembled wall sections for a Habitat for Humanity project in Mount Pleasant.

Construction Technology instructor Doug Riley says that he was approached by Habitat for Humanity volunteers about helping with the project currently underway in Mount Pleasant. The first-year and second-year carpentry students were tasked with assembling exterior and interior walls for the 46 x 24 house. Students followed design specs and built the walls in sections for easy transport and assembly at the job site.

 

Assembling and stacking pre-built wall components

SCC’s InTech Offers New CPT Certificate

Program provides short term training option for production workers

In September, SCC’s InTech Industrial Technology program teamed up with the college’s Center for Business (CBIZ) to roll out a new short-term certificate training program for production workers. The new Certified Production Technician (CPT) certificate was developed by the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) and is a nationally recognized certification. It provides workers with a basic foundation of production skills in safety awareness, quality practices and measurement, manufacturing processes and production, and maintenance awareness.

An InTech student performs an exercise in the program’s Mechanical Lab.

Through discussions with area industry advisors, SCC identified a need for a condensed, short-term training program for production workers. That’s when the college turned to its short-term training division, CBIZ, to design a program to meet this need.

Participants can earn this certificate in approximately 16 weeks.

“This is a great certificate for someone who wants to train for an entry-level position in the production industry but who isn’t interested in earning a degree,” explains CBIZ Training Project Consultant Lewis Worden.

InTech Program Director Charlie Rump says the program is very versatile.

“It’s really up to the participants. This certificate provides solid fundamentals. However if they want to develop other skills, they can earn additional certificates or even a specialized degree.”

Worden adds that area manufacturers will also find the MSSC-CPT certification useful. Not only can they feel more confident that incoming employees will have the targeted fundamentals to perform on the job, they can work with CBIZ to incorporate components of InTech’s CPT curriculum into their current training programs.

Rump says that the CPT certificate is a win for job applicants and production facilities alike.

“It gives job applicants a leg up on other candidates who are not certified, and it enables employers to get their staff up to speed quicker without the need for a lot of extra training.”

Funding assistance is available for a limited time for persons interested in taking the course. Conditions apply. To learn more about InTech’s new CPT certificate, contact Lewis Worden at lworden@scciowa.edu or 319-208-5388.

 

ERTC Open for Action

 Fire training facility now available for SCC, area departments

After five years of planning, SCC hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the  Emergency Response Training Center (ERTC) in June of this year. The facility is the result of a partnership between SCC, the Fort Madison Fire Department, the City of Fort Madison, the Iowa Fire Service Training Bureau, and funding provided by the State of Iowa and the Southeast Iowa Regional Riverboat Commission.

Fort Madison firemen practice car extrication.

The $500,000 facility consists of a multi-level training tower and a burn pad. Trainers can conduct confined space rescue, high angle rescue, elevator shaft rescue, ladder training, extrication training, and live fire training.

“The closest facility like this is in Cedar Rapids. That’s pretty far to go for students who want to become fire fighters or for area departments to send staff for training,” said SCC Emergency Response Program Coordinator Tina Young.

Mark Wessel, SCC Fire Science instructor and former Chief of the Keokuk Fire Department, echoes the convenience factor and stresses the value of how having such a versatile facility locally will lower overall training costs.

“Nearly 90% of required firefighting and rescue training evolutions can be performed at the facility. We can now train more members at a reasonable cost. This is an all-win situation for the college, the fire departments, and the taxpayer.”

Students practice ladder training in full fire gear as instructor Mark Wessel looks on.

Located on the outskirts of Fort Madison, the facility is available for southeast Iowa’s emergency responders consisting of 500+ firefighters and EMS personnel, and 200+ law enforcement personnel. It will allow them to receive vital training to keep the public and themselves safe in the event of an emergency.

Wessel sees the facility as a great start to creating more enhanced programs.

“I would like to see us develop a recruit academy and offer combined training exercises for departments that currently have mutual aid agreements.”

Young said that the facility was put into immediate use after it was completed. “We’ve already used it for our Fire Science program and for continuing education training for current firefighters and departments.”

Young says that there are just under 20 students in SCC’s new Fire Science program.

“Now that the facility is up and running, we expect enrollments to grow as word gets out of the quality training available here at SCC.”

 

New & Neat Fall 2010

This summer, SCC was reaccredited by the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Board of Nursing. SCC earned high marks with no corrective actions required. Reaccreditation ensures that SCC adheres to high standards and maintains quality programs.
 SCC is partnering with the University of Iowa to explore creating a 2 + 2 certificate in sustainability that will enable SCC students who transfer to University of Iowa to earn a certificate in sustainability.
SCC was recently awarded a State Energy Sector Partnership grant in the amount of $208,104. Through this three-year grant, short-term training will be available in a variety of green sectors including energy efficient construction and energy assessment. The program will target at risk youth, low income and unemployed persons, Veterans and ex-offenders.

Julie Glasgow

SCC Institutional Advancement Office secretary Julie Glasgow was honored as the Outstanding Support Specialist by the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees.

Deanne Enderle

Enrollment Services secretary Deanne Enderle was recognized by the Keokuk Business and Professional Women as a 2010 “Woman of Achievement.”

Dean of Transitional Studies Dr. Teresa Garcia

Dr. Teresa Garcia was named the new Dean of Transitional Studies. Garcia will provide oversight and leadership of SCC’s student developmental resources including adult basic education/GED, corrections education, the SuCCess Center, the TRIO program and SCC’s two learning centers. Dr. Garcia is the current director of SCC’s SuCCess Centers.

Dean of Assessment/Keokuk Campus Dr. Ben C. DeSpain

Dr. Ben C. DeSpain was appointed Dean of Assessment/Keokuk Campus. Dr. DeSpain will take a leadership role in assessment of student learning and lead the development of a comprehensive College-wide assessment plan. Additionally, he will manage the day-to-day operations of the Keokuk campus. He has written books on the professorate and servant leadership, and has extensive experience in assessment and accreditation efforts.

Practice Makes Perfect: Nursing students develop clinical decision making skills

Keokuk students learn the basics of a patient exam.

Ask any nurse about the most difficult skill they had to learn while in school and they’ll likely say clinical decision making. Putting together all their learning to assess, treat and reassess patients can only be learned through experience—a lot of experience.

So that students can get vital experience to hone their clinical decision making, SCC recently purchased two SimMan® human simulators for its nursing programs.

Pam Bradley, recently retired Dean of Health and Natural Sciences, explains that, in addition to taking traditional college courses, nursing students must spend time in an actual healthcare environment. However, it can be difficult to place students in clinical locations where they’re guaranteed to get the diverse experiences they need to build their skills.

The number of patients receiving care in a facility such as a hospital, termed patient census, has been steadily declining across the nation.

Both Keokuk Area Hospital Chief Nursing Executive Sue Pankey and Education Director Dixie Fink attribute lower patient census trends to advances in medicine and treatment. 

Pankey and Fink explain that many patients now get procedures that used to be performed in a hospital on an outpatient basis, and for those who check in to the hospital, their length of stay is shorter, due in part to less invasive methods.

Low patient census isn’t a bad thing. Today’s patients benefit from modern technology’s ability to provide better treatment and faster recovery times. However, where nursing education is concerned, fewer patients can mean fewer learning opportunities.

Anticipating potential dilemmas with diminished clinical experiences, SCC identified technologies it could incorporate into the nursing program so that the College could stay ahead of the curve. Simulation technology rose to the top of the list. However, due to the hefty price tag, it would be impossible for SCC to purchase simulation equipment without outside funding. If the College could show initiative and cooperation between education and healthcare, grant sources might be interested.

So SCC secured support from Great River Medical Center (GRMC) in West Burlington and Keokuk Area Hospital (KAH), and submitted a federal earmark request. The College was awarded $118,000 for the purchase of two SimMen® in July of 2009. They also received $20,000 from the Vincent and Nina Cullen Foundation for the same project.

With funding secured, SCC worked with GRMC and KAH to formalize partnerships and identify sharing opportunities. GRMC agreed to house a SimMan® in their facility in West Burlington. SCC and KAH elected to locate the other SimMan® on SCC’s Keokuk campus.

GRMC’s Director of Corporate Education Sue Ferguson says that SCC’s sharing arrangement is unique and could become a model for other colleges and hospitals to follow. “There aren’t a lot of partnerships like ours. Others can learn from what we’ve done. That’s pretty exciting.”

 Second-year Keokuk nursing students prepare to insert a nasogastric tube.

Among Iowa’s community colleges, SCC is ahead of the curve. No other community college has  partnerships with area hospitals quite like SCC.

 Bradley is a strong advocate for using simulators. “Conventional wisdom was that the only way to learn was by interacting with live patients. Not so. Using simulators in nursing instruction isn’t just a substitute for interacting with live patients. In many ways, simulators are actually superior.”

Teresa Colgan, GRMC Vice President of Nursing says that today’s clinical rotations occasionally lack the frequency of patient cases vital to student learning.

“Some students may never see a patient’s condition deteriorate severely or participate in a birth.”

 Unlike working with live patients, instructors can simulate scenarios that students may never experience in a typical clinical rotation.

“Simulations are an excellent way to fill in the gaps,” adds Colgan.

Additionally, human simulators take away the risk factor, allowing students to practice their skills in a safe, less stressful environment. Instructors can give them immediate critical feedback regarding clinical decision making during a simulation.

So what exactly is SimMan®?

Nursing Instructor Deanna Kline demonstrates a procedure..

  SimMan® is a patient simulator with realistic anatomy and clinical functionality. It provides simulation-based education to challenge and test students’ clinical decision making skills during realistic patient care scenarios. It consists of an interactive manikin, a patient monitor, and a control computer.

Students can measure pulse, blood pressure, and body temperature, and listen for breathing, heart, and bowel sounds. They can administer IVs, catheters, and tracheotomies. SimMan® can even speak. Through the use of prerecorded responses and sound effects, he can tell students how he feels and answer basic questions as they assess his condition.

The lifelike scenarios can be intense and demanding for inexperienced students.

SCC second-year nursing student Susan Kempker says, “even though it’s not real, you actually get a sense of panic when things start going bad. You feel a sense of urgency to do something to make him better.”

Fellow student Rebecca Westercamp adds that decision making during a scenario is not easy. “You can learn it out of a book, but until you actually do it in real life, you don’t think about those things.”

West Burlington Nursing Instructor Cole Roberts explains the readout on the SimMan patient monitor.

Roberts observes students through a two-way mirror during a practice scenario.

Glenda Moeller, SCC Coordinator of Health Careers Continuing Education, worked closely with SCC nursing faculty and both hospitals to implement SimMan® installation and training. This spring, GRMC converted a vacated office into a learning lab. While one SimMan® is currently installed, there is space for two more. SCC will remodel an existing nursing classroom on its Keokuk campus over the summer to house the other SimMan®.

GRMC will use SimMan® for orientation, internship, residency, competency assessment and skills remediation. It plans to integrate SimMan® simulations into all aspects of nurse education by 2011. KAH plans to use it for specialized education starting in the spring. As many as 200 staff could use it over the course of a year.

For Bradley, the most important thing the College can do is to keep making the case that there is a need for this kind of technology. “We can’t possibly purchase things like SimMan® without grants and partners, so we have to keep the ball rolling.”

Colgan agrees that partnering together provides the best opportunities. “As resources get tighter, it’s a good thing to share. It benefits all of us, and it helps to be on the same page.”

Moeller sums, “we’ve always had a strong relationship with our hospitals.

This is just another example of their fantastic support.”

See SCC’s SimMan® in action online at www.youtube.com/secciowa.

See more photos of SCC's SimMan on our flickr page:

www.flickr.com/scciowa