Ep 163 | Careers in Health: Find your calling

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You can get a job right out of school with the certifications that you can get in my program. And then they're pretty good paying jobs. I know that I had one student came to me that said, Hey, Miss Barger, I got a job at Sacred Heart. They told me I was going to make $15 an hour. And he said, Well, I have this certificate and this certificate. They go, Oh, well, since you have those certificates, your starting pay is going to be $18 an hour.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. By 2030, many states are expected to have a significant nursing shortage. But what exists as a problem can also be leveraged as an opportunity. Today, she's going to share her journey of nursing to education and how the Health Academy may be a setup for success for both students and the community. Heart to serve and spirit to teach, Ernest Ward graduate Nancy Barker. Thanks for being here. Oh, thank you for having me. So, how long were you a nurse before you made the career change?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

I was a nurse for about 20 years before I went into education.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

That is like a proper career. 20 years. Wow. And you became a nurse in 82, right? Yes. So that means you were a registered nurse during the AIDS epidemic.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

What was that like? That it that was very eye-opening because that's when nurses all of a sudden realized that we needed protective equipment and stuff like that that we weren't using before then. So it was very educational for us, but also very scary time for the patients, of course.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

So when you say protective equipment, you're talking about just gloves when b starting an IV or Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Yeah. Before that, we would go into rooms, we'd wash our hands, we'd start IVs, we'd throw the needles in the containers and you know, recap them and everything. Didn't think anything about it. If we got a finger stick, oh well, you know, it'll stop bleeding and you can go on and do your work. And it it was just the way it was. But then after the AIDS epidemic, you learned that, hey, you need to be more careful, you need to wear gloves, you need to make for sure you know what a patient has. Wow. Isn't that wild to think?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

It wasn't that long ago. Oh no, it wasn't. We wouldn't even think for anyone to not wear gloves while starting an IV, but it's just, it's just wild. You kind of wonder what's that version happening now that 20 years from now we'll look back and go, oh my gosh, can you believe what we were doing? That's true. Do you draw on your experience as a nurse at all when you're teaching your students?

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Oh yeah, because I'm teaching them to go into the health profession. I'm still an RN. That that's the first thing I got to get through the heads. They said, Oh, well, you're my teacher. It's like, yes, I'm your teacher, but I'm still a registered nurse. I haven't let my license go. So you have to be a registered nurse to be in my position. So I bring my skills and showing them how to do things properly and improperly so that they know how to make corrections when they're doing things and that aren't quite correct.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Do you ever draw on specific stories to help drive home a point?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

One personal story that I because ethics, of course, is a big deal in nursing. So one of the things I do draw on is I had adopted a baby. And at one point she was in ICU and they didn't want to do a procedure that I wanted to have done. So I told them about going before the ethics board at Sacred Heart Hospital and having to fight for my rights as a parent, not just as a nurse, to get her the care that she needed at that time. So yeah, I draw on both personal and nursing experiences to bring things to them so that they understand it's not just black and white. There are gray areas in nursing. Are they surprised by that? I think so. Yeah, they don't they don't look at me as someone who'd actually go out and fight for something.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Hey, it's always the sweet ones that you gotta watch out for. But what you're talking about is self-advocacy. Right. And that's that's something that I think you do have to learn as a young person.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yeah, if they don't learn now to speak up for themselves, it's gonna be harder as they get older.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Yeah, or speak up for others as well. Right. Yeah. And you know, there's like an old school and maybe a newer school of thought when it comes to medical self-advocacy. Old school might be like, well, the doctor or the nurse, whatever they say, I have to do. And I think new school is like, oh, I have agency over my body. I can, you know, make these decisions with my doctor and with the nurse.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Right. And I can always get a second opinion. It's not like I have to go with the first thing somebody tells me.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah. And if I was in your class, I would have so much more knowledge, right? Because I'm not just, you know, asking different questions. I actually have a little bit of information. Hopefully. Yeah. Hopefully. Hopefully, yes. I have a feeling you're not a teacher who lets people slide, though. I mean, we've only sat here for like three minutes and I'm already getting that impression from you.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

No. You could ask my freshman. They they think I'm the hardest teacher there is. And then by the time they graduate as a senior, they're like, Oh, we're glad you were that way. I've had my students come back to me from college going, you know, Ms. Barger, I learned more in your class than I'm learning in my college classes right now. So we really appreciate what you made us learn. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

That's incredible. Now your master's degree is special education, right? Correct. So other than nursing, was education always kind of on the horizon for you?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Well, I always wanted to be a teacher, even when I was going to high school. But at that time, when I graduated, there was too many teachers. Or they that's what they said, there was too many teachers in it. So instead of going into education, I went into nursing. And then I did that, like I said, for 20 years until my health made it so that floor nursing was not an option anymore. So then I went back to school to become a teacher.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

And how did that come about? Tell the story of how you ended up at Washington High School.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Oh well, I like I said, my master's is in special education. So I always assumed that, like I said, when I finished my master's program, I was gonna go teach special education. Well, my husband was also going to college with me because he was gonna go into education also, and he needed a foreign language. And at that time, I already knew some American Sign Language, but I hadn't done it for a long time. So I told him, hey, this is one of the easiest, in my opinion, foreign languages that you can take. So I'll go with you and we'll we'll learn how to do it together again. So we went to Pensacola State College and was taking the ASL there. And the ASL teacher said, Oh, by the way, there's an opening for an ASL teacher at Washington High School. You you should apply for it. I think you'd do great. So that's what I did. And then so I was an ASL teacher for 16 years there. Wow. And then I switched over to the nursing program when Mrs. Gott was our main nursing instructor and she was wonderful, but she retired. And then they went through like two other teachers in two years. So the principal at that time, Dr. Roberts, asked me if I would take over the program because that was my specialty before I taught ASL. So I said, sure. So that's when I switched back over to the health education program.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

That's such a cool story. I love that. What a happy accident. Yes. Such a good fit for you. And the health academy is a bit different than the other academies, at least in the first year, correct? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

The first year they learn medical terminology. So, but we also have students that not only are in the academy, we also have ones that just come in to it as an elective. So they they get to learn a little bit about medical terminology in the healthcare field and decide whether that's something for them or they don't want to be in it. But for and especially this coming year, most of our students have decided to stay in the academy. So it's going to be an interesting new year when we start because instead of only having a class of 20 juniors, I have a class of 50, I have 54 juniors next year. So yeah. So what's motivating them this year to stay? I think the job market outlook, you know, you can get a job right out of school with the certifications that you can get in my program. And then they're pretty good paying jobs. I know that I had one student came to me that said, Hey, Miss Barger, I got a job at Sacred Heart. They told me I was going to make $15 an hour. And he said, Well, I have this certificate, this certificate. They go, Oh, well, since you have those certificates, your starting pay is going to be $18 an hour. So it's really a good start. Plus, they pay for college classes. Once you start working for them, they'll reimburse you for your college classes. So it's a way to get your college paid for, too.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Are there already pre-established relationships with various health systems? Like you mentioned, Sacred Heart. Are they are there opportunities at, you know, Baptist and the other ones as well?

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yes. All three of the main hospitals will do tuition reimbursement. My students mostly go into being certified patient care technicians or certified medical assistants. But even if you go into housekeeping and you want to become something, they'll do college reimbursement for you too. So the hospitals are really big on education and wanting their staff to improve their self.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

And you even got, what was it, a $20,000 grant from HCA?

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yes. Along with the Scambia Education Association, we took and wrote a grant. Joe MacArthur and Carrie Johnson and I, we wrote a grant and we were able to get a grant from HCA for $20,000 a year for three years. Oh, it's $20,000 a year. Right, for three years.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Oh my gosh. Okay, so what is that going to do for the students? What does that pay for?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

This year it paid for their test because those tests are $165 a test. I'm talking about the certification. The certification, the national certification test. And then it also paid our hotel cost for because part of the grant that I wrote in there was cost for HOSA, which is Health Occupation Students of America. It's our club that goes with the, it's a competition club that goes with our academy. The kids go to regional state, and I'm even taking one to international this summer. And so it paid for their registration and hotel costs for regionals, and then it paid for their hotel costs for state. Okay, I did not realize that there were competitions. Tell me more about that. What does that look like? Competitions for HOSA is anything from taking a test, like for medical terminology, which is what my student's going to internationals for in June. She's just going to go and take a test for medical terminology to see if she can come out to be one of the top ones. Then there are skill-based tests like nursing assistant skills, physical therapy skills, respiratory therapy skills. So depending on what their interest is, and there's also like HOSA Bowl, where you go and you compete against other students with your knowledge about HOSA or biomedical debate. I took a team to internationals for biomedical debate where they debated different issues in the communities. Last year I took an ESE student to internationals, which was a great accomplishment for her. As you can imagine, it's really hard for them to compete against regular high school kids, but she came out to be the seventh in the world. What? In personal skills. So we were very proud of her that she placed seventh.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

This is incredible. I mean, I could see where this would really just supercharge their confidence, not to mention the benefit of having them be the top of this area of expertise, you know, preparing them at the front of the line essentially for whatever's next. Is there any additional benefit to winning these contests, like monetary or scholarships?

SPEAKER_00 12:37

They do offer scholarships. They have kids that apply for the scholarships, and then they're I they have a team of people who look at the scholarships and award the scholarships. Unfortunately, none of our kids have ever gotten a scholarship yet, but they keep applying. So hopefully one day one of them will win one. But yeah, they have scholarships. It looks good on job applications, of course, that you're competing and know you're what you're doing. And like you said, it builds self-confidence because like the ESC, I took two ESC students that year to when the one won. The other one she didn't place, but she got to go and compete. She's never been out of the state of Florida. And we went to Texas. So it was her first plane ride, her first, you know, being away from home, being away from mom. So it builds their self-esteem and shows them that they can do things that the normal kids too, of course, that they can do what they need to do to advance their knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

That's so amazing. Okay, let's go back to the certifications. I got a little excited about the competitions. Yeah, I don't we didn't talk about it. No, no, that's so cool. I I just think that's I mean, competition is so important. And I think sometimes there's a temptation to see it as peripheral to the learning. You know, like the learning is serious, the competition is play. It's a recreational thing. But competition really sharpens your mind. And it's important for you, like you said, for their confidence building and it broadens their view of the world. Literally, you know, you're taking them outside of the state and they get to see what's out there. And that is so important to know that the world is bigger than your neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah, because uh at internationals you have people from China, Taiwan, Canada, England. It's not just people here in the United States.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. So, how many certifications can a student get? And in layman's terms, I guess, what would that equal to as far as like a job?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

In my program, they can give up to five certifications. So their junior year, I certify them in the front office personnel at the doctor's office. So the one who answers the phone and makes appointments and stuff. It's called a certified medical administrative assistant. There's a national certification test for that. And then a new one that we're bringing in next year is the electronic records clerk. Because all your health records now have gone online. You know, so it's the person who may make sure that everything is correct online and that nothing is being done improperly. So it's a certified electronic health records specialist. And then in their senior year, the first semester we work on getting their EKG certification. So they learn how to do EKGs. And then they learn certified patient care technician, which is what we used to call a certified nursing assistant. And they're, you can still get that designation too, but most of the hospitals around here have gone to certified patient care technicians. They have a little bit more responsibility than a certified nurse's aide. So they work at on the hospital on the floors and stuff, basically, and nursing homes. And then a certified medical assistant, which works in the back office at the doctor's office, giving shots, taking weights and heights, and telling the doctor what the problem is.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Okay. Thank you for breaking that down. You did a really good job. I think you just channeled like your classroom self, and I was your student in that moment because I'm like, oh yeah, that makes total sense. I totally get that now. So, what's the process for students to figure out whether this career path is a right fit or not? Because you mentioned that your students right now are really just being very pragmatic and looking at their career opportunities post-graduation compared to the current job market, which I love that they are thinking like that, right? That's so smart because you can always pivot. As you pointed out, they can go to university at the expense of the employer. But how do how do you help them know if it's a it's a good fit at all? Like, is there a litmus test for it?

SPEAKER_00 16:52

There's not really a litmus test for it, but that's part of the the freshman course and the medical skills course. We review all and they do projects on all the different aspects of medical care. You know, what is a ultra because when they come in and you ask them, what is what when you're thinking about the medical world, what do you think about? And 95% of them are going to say doctors and nurses. And they don't think about the lab techs, the x-ray techs, the ultrasound text, even your cafeteria workers and janitors and stuff, they don't realize there's a whole community in healthcare. It's not just doctors and nurses. So that's what the medical skills class is for, is for career exploration so that they can learn all about those different careers and then they can decide what they want to do. And in our program in the health academy, they can stay with me in the nursing pre-nursing program, or they can split off into sports medicine. Oh, really? Yeah, we have a sports medicine teacher.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Oh, that's really cool. Wow. Okay. So there's lots of room for them to explore, you know, what this version of their future could look like. Correct. I love that. That's so cool. I'm starting to see why you're the academy teacher of the year. This is starting to make sense. Was it a total shock to you when you found out?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

It wasn't a total shock because yeah, Miss Stanley had told me that she put me in for it. So I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Oh, that's that's sweet.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

So it it was when she said that she put me in for it, I I thought that was really great of her and nice of her to do that. But yeah, considering how many academy teachers we have, yeah, I wasn't looking, didn't know that I would win. But yeah, I was proud of winning.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

You should be. And that's true. There are a lot of academy teachers. Thankfully, we have a lot of academies in in Escambia County. Do you have any final words of encouragement to parents or maybe even, you know, teachers who maybe see something in their student who might be thinking about a career in healthcare?

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Explore with them. Help them, you know, look at different aspects of it. I can say one time I was working with one of the people from Escarosa who brought in she was trying to fit someone into a health career, and the person was like, I want to be a phlebotomist. I want to be a phlebotomist. And she goes, Okay, but I don't want to have anything to do with blood.

unknown 19:16

What?

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Did she misunderstand what that word means? I think that she misunderstood what a phlebotomist was. So, you know, they need to understand what field they're going into that like phlebotomist is someone who draws blood. So yeah. So just ask those exploratory questions. Right. Exploring questions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yeah. I love that. Well, thank you so much for your time that you put in as a nurse and as a teacher of ASL and now a teacher in the Health Science Academy. I appreciate what you're doing. I think it's it's very cool and very needed. Thank you. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.