The Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) organization at Boys Town recently honored 12 graduates receiving their Certified Nursing Assistant pins through a special ceremony.
Teaching youth skills that will help them find a job and thrive as adults after they leave the Boys Town residential program is nothing new. Throughout the over 100-year history of Father Flanagan's Home, the program has prided itself in preparing students to make their mark in the real world as productive, hard-working citizens.
Boys Town's Career Center provides students the opportunity to find their passion, learn specific workplace skills and build connections with potential employers and mentors while completing their required academic courses for graduation. The certified nursing assistant program is one of those programs helping to teach and train tomorrow's healthcare workers.
According to Gretchen Ward, who directs the program, Boys Town combines classroom and laboratory work to develop the skills needed to care for the elderly or chronically ill. Successful completion of both a Department of Health and Human Services-approved Nursing Assistant training program, and Nursing Assistant state testing, allows these new nursing assistants to obtain their CNA certification with the state of Nebraska. Boys Town celebrates these students' achievements with a special pinning and oath ceremony to mark their introduction into the field of healthcare. Boys Town has had the program for over 20 years.
Nebraska HOSA is a prestigious state association of the international HOSA organization, by and for students who are, or were, enrolled in secondary or postsecondary/collegiate health science education programs and are interested in pursuing health careers. HOSA-Future Health Professionals is the only nationwide student organization whose focus is 100 percent health care.
