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Altoona Area seniors Colton Chathams and Lanie Wilt perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on manikins Wednesday during a lab at the Curry Innovation Center. The students are participating in a new patient care technician program through Saint Francis University and will take their exams to become certified PCTs in August.
Mirror photo by Matt Churella
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Bishop Guilfoyle Academy senior Riley Gofus performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a manikin Wednesday during a lab at the Curry Innovation Center.
Mirror photo by Matt Churella
Altoona Area seniors Colton Chathams and Lanie Wilt perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on manikins Wednesday during a lab at the Curry Innovation Center. The students are participating in a new patient care technician program through Saint Francis University and will take their exams to become certified PCTs in August.
Mirror photo by Matt Churella
A new program funded by Saint Francis University will acquaint a group of 10 Bishop Guilfoyle Academy and Altoona Area School District seniors with the experience and skills necessary to work in the health care industry as a patient care technician.
According to Julie Warnick, dean of Saint Francis’ professional studies division, once the students have graduated from high school, they’ll take four courses within a period of three months before taking their exams in August to become certified PCTs.
From there, they can earn money and make references while working part time in the health care industry and/or going on to college to pursue other areas within the industry, something most students are planning to do, Warnick said.
“It’s just a wonderful opportunity for these students,” Warnick said, noting there is a dire need for health care professionals in the area.
Students were selected through an application process and were awarded scholarships last year to cover the program’s total per-student cost of $5,000. About 27 students applied for the program, and out of the 10 selected, six were from Altoona Area and four were from Bishop Guilfoyle, Warnick said.
Bishop Guilfoyle Academy senior Riley Gofus performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a manikin Wednesday during a lab at the Curry Innovation Center.
Mirror photo by Matt Churella
Since January, the students have been taking two asynchronous courses online and meeting monthly for labs at the Curry Innovation Center along 11th Avenue. Over the summer, they’ll receive five hours of clinical experience at UPMC Altoona, something Bishop Guilfoyle senior Riley Gofus said she’s excited to do.
During a lab session Wednesday, during which students learned basic life support skills, Gofus said she enjoyed learning how to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the beat of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” and Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”
The songs are useful guidelines for students to follow the recommended rate of 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute, said Vicki Davis, the program’s director.
Through the program, Davis said students will learn phlebotomy and electrocardiography. They’ll leave the program with quantifiable skills that go above and beyond what other patient care technician programs teach, she said.
“This is a great introduction for them and it helps them to be inspired to go on,” Davis said, adding it helps the students decide whether they’re serious about entering the healthcare industry.
Gofus said she wants to become a physician assistant upon graduating college. She’s been accepted — but hasn’t committed — to Saint Francis’ physician assistant science three-plus-two accelerated program, which is designed for students to earn a master’s degree after successful completion of their fifth year in college.
“In college, I can go and shadow while also doing the work and having the patient care technician experience helps me get advanced with my other classmates I’ll be with,” she said. “It’s really exciting because I also get paid to do it.”
Gofus said the monthly labs have been great experiences so far because she and her classmates are learning something new every time they come to one of them.
Altoona Area senior Rachel Kennedy said the courses are a lot to take on because students are undertaking the program in addition to their regular high school coursework.
“We do it all just because we enjoy it. We want to do this outside of our regular classes,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy, who aspires to be a doctor, said being able to obtain the certification before entering college will allow her to get more out of her experiences. Kennedy has been accepted to Saint Francis University, Franklin & Marshall University and Juniata College — though she hasn’t decided which school she wants to attend yet.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.
