Damage in Bay County impacted jobs across the area, including the Tom P. Haney Technical Center.
“We had to do some make shift clinical areas and school work and classrooms,” said Evelyn Simmons, Director of Nursing.
The circumstances, though, didn’t stop 19 students from finishing the Practical Nursing Program.
Graduate, Deborah Everett said, “when we found out we were coming back to school, everybody kind of bonded together and made sure everyone had uniforms, had shoes, socks. We shared books, we did everything we could to make sure everybody in our class was able to complete class.”
The graduates were honored on Tuesday in a Nursing Pinning Ceremony and now ready to take on the world but with the impact of Hurricane Michael still being felt, their job search could suffer.
“It is a little more daunting now because LPNs historically work in nursing homes, more so with the nursing homes closed down and now the hospital laying off a bunch of people, it does make our job search, I think a lot harder,” said Everett.
Everett says more than half of her classmates are from the area and want to stay here but it might not be possible. “Of course I want to be able to stay here and work within the community and provide good health service. If we can’t find here then we’ll have to go out of county or we would not be able to work in the field that we just trained for.”
Simmons says she hopes her students can find a job in the area they want but no matter what, they’re prepared for whatever comes next. “They have sacrificed a lot already to get to where they are and I think that whatever they need to do, would be best.”
To learn more about Tom P. Haney Technical Center, click here.
