CPR training
Heartland Community College 
Map of the college
Heartland's CNA class is located in the ICB building at Heartland Community College on Raab Road. This CNA class is to teach students how to be a Certified Nursing Assistant. Students will go through the basics of how to care for elderly people in nursing homes, hospitals, and in private homes. This class will teach skills that are required so that the residents or patients can keep their dignity. To be a CNA all the students need to do is take this class, pass the exam at the end of the semester and then take the state exam and pass that as well to be a certified nursing assistant.
Instructors:
Judy Beall is one of the instructors of Heartland's CNA class; she has been an instructor there for 4 years. She has been a nurse for 44 years. Judy believes that this class prepares the students for real situations. Heartland's CNA Program has a good passing rate, they focus very hard on making sure everyone passes or almost everyone passes because it is mandated for Heartland to have a good passing rate for the CNA Program. CNA's are the backbone to every facility, they are great to have around and help the nurses.
Deb Jasowiak is another instructor for the CNA Program; she has been an instructor for 5 years. She has been a nurse for 35 years. Deb believes this class is fantastic class, it provides excellent training for when the students go in the real world and start working as CNA's. Practice makes perfect and students will learn more when they start their job. Students may learn something in the CNA class because they need to but may not actually have to do that specific thing in real life. CNA's are very important; they are the extension of nurses’ eyes, ears, nose and smell. A CNA is extremely helpful for nurses to have because they are around the patients or residents more than the nurses. Being a CNA is a big responsibility.
Requirements:
This is for the class.Two-step TB shot, criminal back ground check, every student has to pass portions of the class, the theory/lab portion and the clinical portion. The students need a 75%- a C or higher in order to do the clinical part of the program which will be going to a nursing home. The Theory/lab is based on 4 of the students’ tests. If the student doesn't pass they don't go.
In order to take the class your TB (tuberculosis) test has to come back negative for TB, and your criminal back ground check has to come back without any felonies.
For being a CNA in general you need to have the TB shot which has to come back negative and the criminal background check which needs to show that you have no felony charges.
TB test
Health Requirements:
This is for the class and for being a CNA in general. Every student who wants to be a CNA, needs to be able to have physical strength, physical endurance, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, has to be able to have good movement, good hearing, good eye vision, and emotional stability.
Appearence:
These appearances are for the class. No perfume or cologne allowed, have to be well groomed, need to have all white or almost all white nursing shoes, nails have to be short and cleaned no fake nails and only light nail polish allowed as long as it does not chip off, scrubs have to be neat ( no wrinkles), beards it needs to be well trimmed, neat and clean, hair has to be above the shoulders and not obstructing your vision, only one pair of earrings, no facial piercings, makeup should be light, and chewing gum is not allowed.
Items Required:
These items are required for the class. Navy pants, shirts or skorts, gray top, gait belt (all of these must be purchased at Star Uniform), White or almost all white shoes (tennis shoes or nursing shoes) must be closed toe, watch with sweep-second hand, note pad and black pen.
Attendance:
A student can't miss more than 6 hours of theory/lab and 7 hours of clinical. If they do so the instructor can give an F (0) for the course. Module 1 and module 6 of this class are mandatory per federal regulations; you can't miss those weeks of class. If a student is late they tally up the minutes and add them to the 6 or 7 hours they can miss. Being on time is a big deal.
Laboratory:
Every student is given a skill sheet the first week of class before you can go to the clinical part of the class, each student has to have every skill checked off of the skill sheet in order to move forward. The lab skills testing are done on a weekly basis, and the students are supposed to demonstrate the skills without any problems.
Clinical:
When students begin the clinical setting, they go to nursing homes and they will do all the skills that they learned in class on real live people. During the clinical setting every skill the students got checked off on, on their skill sheet during class, they will have to get checked off all over again in the nursing homes. Two nursing homes students may go are Martin Health nursing home and the McLean county nursing home.
Pregnancy:
If a student is pregnant they need to tell the instructor of the pregnancy and to make sure their doctor says it is okay to continue the course, the student needs to bring a note from the doctor with their permission for that student to continue and go to the clinical portion before the clinical portion starts. If the student continues to complete the course it is at her own risk, and needs to remember that residents and patients can be unpredictable.
Being a CNA:
CNA's take care of the elderly people. CNA's are the backbone to every facility, they are great to have around and help the nurses. CNA's help the residents get up for the day, they help them get dressed, use the restroom, eat and help them with any problems that the resident or patient may have if the CNA is qualified to do so. CNA's will also clean up messes that residents or patients may make. When you become a CNA you will need to give documentation and verbal reporting to the head nurse before the end of your shift, a CNA is responsible for making observations about the patient and to make sure to tell the head nurse if something is to change about a resident or a patient which includes all body system changes and how the patient and or the resident responds to treatment. CNA's work under the direction and supervision of the nurse. A CNA can only do jobs that are in their scope of practice, which means if they don't know how to do something or they aren't supposed to do it they need to tell the nurse but make sure to inform the nurse of why they can't do it.
Other CNA Programs:
Heartland Community College isn't the only place where you can take the CNA class the Bloomington Area Career Center also has a CNA Program.
