Hi Students! I hope you all are staying safe at home, appreciating this extra time with your families, and following guidelines published by the CDC. I know adjusting to this new situation is a challenge, but I’m proud of our students who are continuing on with their education and career. Just remember, healthcare workers will be even more in demand, and we want you to be ready when that happens. Pay attention to your studies because the knowledge you’re learning now may save someone’s life later on.
Online Class Guidelines
All of our classes have moved online, and students are attending from their homes. Remember that you should treat attending at home just like you’re attending at school. This means that you should be paying attention, taking notes, and participating. During lecture, you should only be attending lecture. Let your families know about your schedule, and encourage them to engage in independent activities while you’re doing your schoolwork. For those with small children, ask your family for help.
If you have any feedback about your class, please communicate with your Instructor. They are here to help you, and appreciate when you give them suggestions on how to help you learn better.
Lab Practice
Lab is a critical part of the curriculum, and we know that much of it needs to be done with the supplies and equipment that we have here at the school. However, right now the governor has mandated us to maintain social distance of at least 6 feet apart. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn the procedures through photos and videos.
Your Instructors will be assigning case studies and scenarios for you to work through. This will be important preparation for your labs. When we start labs again, we want you to have a background of what’s happening so that you can learn the labs quickly.
Externships
For now, the healthcare facilities have stopped any new externs from being able to rotate. However, they will resume once the worst of this situation is over. In fact, we expect an explosion of openings for healthcare jobs, and we want you to be ready for the workforce. Our priority is to help you graduate on time having learned your required competencies.
Right now, we are helping externs complete their hours through simulations and case studies. So that you can fulfill your hours, we will assign these scenarios to all our current extern students so that they can graduate on time. However, once the sites are accepting externs back, we will assist you with externship sites. We think a lot of those will be extern-to-hire, so get ready!
Communication
For the duration of the stay-at-home order, we are not taking in-person appointments, but we are here to serve you by phone, email, and Zoom meeting. Also, students may pick up and drop off items at the College by appointment.
We’ve designated a central pick-up and drop-off location at the Annex in Suite #128. Students with questions, comments or any concerns may email me at: [email protected].
Additionally, I will be hosting a weekly Zoom hangout every Thursday from 2:30-3:30p. You can join with my meeting ID at 380-293-8620. These will be informal chats where you will get to meet students from other classes and talk about anything you like.
Latest Health Information
We know that this can be a stressful time, but I urge you to combat fear with knowledge. In fact, as future healthcare workers, you should educate yourself with the correct knowledge about COVID-19. For the most accurate information on the disease itself, go to http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus. For updated information on the orders from Los Angeles County, go to http://lacounty.gov/covid19. If you get information on YouTube or social media, please consult reliable sources, which include CDC and government channels. In addition, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and NPR are reliable sources of information from the news media.
Stay safe, follow CDC guidelines, and remember that in this new era, your skills will be in demand more than ever before!