Victor Valley College
The Journal
The Bi-Monthly Nursing School and Allied Health Newsletter Letter
October 2011 Volume 1 No. 2
Nursing Students Donate time to Remember 9/11
Article By
Heather Vladic
Photo By
David De La Cruz
And Elizabeth Vandom
Nursing students from the
Victor Valley College Nursing Program‟s graduating
class (Nursing Process 4)
lose their lives because there
is no blood available for a
simple transfusion.
The blood drive was held at
the Student Activities Center.
The main event was a
“United We Stand” memorial ceremony. A Public
Safety Awareness Fair was
also presented by representatives from fire, law, Emer-
Ashley Birescik, Andrea Wilson, Terry Mathis, Sharon Stewart, Ashley
Jones, Kristina Bogren, Jennifer Vitha, Heather Vladic, Erika Rodriguez
hosted a blood drive on September 11, 2011. The event,
held in conjunction with
Lifestream, was to commemorate the lives lost on
that unforgettable day ten
years ago, September 11,
2001. Even today people
Nursing & Allied Health
gency Rescue Service and
the military. Private citizens
were among those showing
recognition to our fallen
Americans and to those who
continue to serve and protect
our great country, despite the
risks involved.
Nearly 70
people demonstrated their
patriotism and
generosity by
offering to
donate blood.
Most donors
were accepted
at the site, but
due to an
overflow of
donations and
limited staff
from lifestream, many people
had to be referred to the High
Desert Donation Center.
“I thank the nursing program
for their collaborative effort
as they help us save lives by
giving hope, giving life and
giving blood,” said Brandon
Nazario, Mobile RN II.
Among those that donated
were students, family members of students, staff and
faculty of VVC.
“It was my first time donating. I thought it would be
a good deed to do on 9/11
and I wanted to fulfill a new
experience,” said VVC student Klaudia Leal.
The blood drive was the
senior community leadership
project of Nursing Process 4
students Cecilia Hercules,
Erika Rodriguez, Heather
Vladic and Jennifer Vitha.
Nursing students from other
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
processes volunteered at the
event as well.
A bake sale and raffle to
help offset nursing graduation expenses were located
inside of the SAC where the
Public Safety Awareness
Fair was held. The bake sale
included homemade cupcakes, cookies, fudge, and
generous donations from
local businesses such as
Olive Garden, Red Lobster,
Oggi‟s Pizza and Brewery,
Massage Envy Spa, UltraStar
Cinemas, and Starbucks;
with other items raffled off
throughout the day. Prizes
not awarded that day will be
raffled off at later events.
ADVANCE HEALTHCARE
SHOP
10% Of Proceeds go to
Nursing Activity Fund
advancehealthcareshop.com
Enter VVCTENA at checkout
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861
The Journal Victor Valley College
October 2011 Page 2
The Great California Shake Out is Almost Here!
Story By
Elizabeth Vandom
On October 20th VVC
hosted a Great Californian
Shake Out event on the
upper campus near the
Student Activity Center,
featuring a mock disaster
triage in the morning and
an informational fair in
the afternoon. To give a
bit of background concerning what exactly the
Great Californian Shake
Out is: USGS MultiHazards Demonstration
Project, organized by Dr.
Lucy Jones was created to
meet the growing need for
social and emergency preparedness in response to
earthquake disasters
within California. This
project eventually led into
the Shake Out Scenario,
before fully developing
into the Great Southern
California Shake Out in
2008. This event is not
only used in Southern
California, but has been
adopted throughout the
western sea board and
around the world. All
around California earthquake drills started at
10:20, on October 20th in
order to prepare the public
and government communities for an earthquake
disaster event.
Professor Alice Ramming had this to say when
asked about her excitement regarding the event:
“I have been interested in
disaster management since
my first experience with a
„minor‟ disaster while
working as a night nurse
in the critical care unit 30
years ago.” During a significant earthquake the
hospital she was employed
in lost power and was
without for 20 minutes
causing the staff to manually ventilate patients who
were previously dependent upon mechanical ventilation. Due to this event
she feels that it is her duty
Photo by Mark Downey of Oakland, CA
as an instructor to prepare
future generations of
nurses for disasters similar
to what she experienced.
The Paramedic program in conjunction with
the Nursing program set
up a mock triage, allowing
us as the future medical
community to experience
the aftermath of a significant disaster. Prof. Alice
Ramming, Prof. Diego
Garcia, Coordinator
Nancy Thale, and NP4
Student Deanna Scurlock
are working together with
other key members of
VVC to host this event to
better prepare the High
Desert community for
their rolls as responders
and team members in an
earthquake disaster.
Deanna Scurlock had this
to say about the afternoon
information fair; “I have a
lot of different people
from the community involved ranging from
CERT, Bioterrism, Animal Rescue, Emergency
Preparedness, and more.”
If you‟re interested in the
Great California Shake
Out feel free to visit the
Great Shake Out web page
at: http://
www.shakeout.org, or
contact any of the individuals mentioned above.
ALUMNI GIVING
Your contributions are welcomed. All proceeds
help sup-port the student community service
projects, pinning ceremony, and the growth and
development of the nursing department.
Please Contact:
The Victor Valley College Foundation in care
of the VVC School of Nursing at:
www.vvcfoundation.com
Nursing & Allied Health
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861
The Journal Victor Valley College
October 2011 Page 3
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
This section is dedicated to highlighting the nursing Alumni of VVC.
Their leadership and contributions to the community is worthy of acknowledgement
Janeen Johanson VVC School of Nursing Class of 1993
Janeen Johansen, RNC, currently works as a
Director of an OB Unit here in the high desert.
She is a certified In-Patient Obstetric Nurse as
well as a certified Childbirth and Lactation Counseling Educator. When asked about how the VVC
nursing program influenced her career she said,
“completing the VVC nursing program was a
dream come true.” Mrs. Johansen was able to
secure a job in a newborn nursery upon graduation, advancing her career to an OB Nurse not
long after. She not only enjoys being able to hire
new grads into the OB unit she directs, but also
finds being an adjunct faculty member as an OB
clinical instructor for NP2 rewarding.
Story By
Elizabeth Vandom
Photo By
Janeen Johanson
“I feel the VVC nursing program as a whole prepared
me well for working in the acute care setting. I owe a
debt of gratitude to many of the instructors at the college,” Stated Mrs. Johanson after being asked about
individual members that contributed to her learning
experience. One of the most profound statements
Mrs. Johansen stated after being asked about possible
improvements she thought could be made within the
VVC program was, “I can‟t think of one thing that I
wished they had taught me or done for me that I
would change.” Janeen Johansen, RNC is a prime
example of how the VVC Nursing Program has
brought success and fulfillment to the lives of those
who have experienced it.
Faculty Corner
33 Years of Dedication and Counting
Story and Photo By
Elizabeth Vandom
One of the most amazing
things about nursing and
medicine is the continual
change. Often those of us
just getting into the field are
unable to understand the
exact extent of this change.
Diane Cline, RN MSN, was
hired in 1978 as a part time
instructor in the Victor Valley College Nursing Department. Even after working
ten years in ICU she found
she enjoyed teaching and
change her status to full time
instructor the following year.
Driven to keep up to date in
current nursing skills she
continues to work in MedSurg. Professor Cline has
witnessed changes in the
length of patient stay, the
introduction of computers
into hospitals, and the reviNursing & Allied Health
sions of nurse to patient ratios. The ever present constant throughout her career
has been the fact the nurse is
there to care for the patient.
Even with the advances in
medicine and the growing
autonomy within nursing, the
nurse has been and will always be the
patient advocate.
Due to this
continued responsibility of
the nurse to act
in the patient‟s
best interest it
has become
imperative to
keep up with the times and
trends within nursing. Professor Cline is proud of the
fact VVC continues to be
rather cutting edge in its educational techniques. One of
the ways she has assisted
with the continued advance-
ment of the program is by
initiating the Preceptorship
Nursing program before any
other program in Southern
California. She maintains
high standards for her students, and is not afraid to
“say what other people are
thinking” inside and outside
the classroom. One
of the greatest contributions she feels
she continues to
make to the program is her ability
to see the good and
bad of any situation, providing a
unique and level
head to new ideas
and proposals from
the student body and her
coworkers. It‟s an impressive and humbling fact that
nearly 2/3rds of the nurses
practicing in High Desert
hospitals are Victor Valley
College alumni, not to men-
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
tion that half of the full time
staff in the VVC Nursing
Department are also graduates. These facts drive instructors like Professor Cline
to continually challenge their
students and to maintain the
quality of nurses graduating
from VVC. This Nursing
program will continue to
send professional, prudent,
and competent nurses into
the medical system as long
as the program is graced with
individuals, like Professor
Cline, who have the desire,
expertise, and patience to
push us to become the best
nurses we are capable of
becoming.
Interested in purchasing AD space to support this news letter?
Please contact the Nursing
Department at 760-2454271 for more details.
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861
The Journal Victor Valley College
October 2011 Page 4
Assistants Graduate Into Their New Profession
Story and Photo By
Roderick A. Gray Jr.
Editor Emeritus
A co-ed class of 8 Victor
Valley College students
graduated from the five
week Summer Medical
Assistant course taught by
Debbie Walton.
Desert Valley Hospital
served as the vocational,
professional training facility, they worked with 10
doctors in the specialized
fields from Gastroenterology to Urgent Care.
“Miss Debbie‟s
Medical Assistant class
was amazing. It‟s a wonderful experience to be given
the opportunity to assist with
the care of individuals,” said
VVC student Tara Currywood.”
Prior to admission to the
class students must complete
CPR certification training,
update immunization records ,purchase uniforms,
“The investment was worth
it,” said VVC student Lisa
Zelphia Warner. “Working at
Desert Valley Hospital was a
great experience.”
James Vicario was the recipient of a $1500 scholar-
said, “I‟ve heard nothing but
good things about you all
during your clinical.”
Peers Empowering & Educating Peers (PEEPs)
The PEEPs program is a volunteer program designed for nursing and allied health students
enrolled at VVC. The intention
of the program is to provide
supplemental support to students that are having difficulty
with comprehending the theoretical and clinical concepts in
nursing or the allied health
programs…for more information visit my PEEPs at
text books and a stethoscope.
Expenses totaled
nearly $600 for the 5 unit
class.
ship from the Desert Valley
Hospital Foundation.
Holding back tears VVC
Instructor Debbie Walton
VVCPEEPS.PBWORKS.
COM
No Summer Break for VVC’s Nursing Students
Story By
Elizabeth Vandom
Photo By
Rosalina Gonzalez
crowd management, and
administration of vaccinations. Jamie Baber, a
student nurse,
managed and
organized the
15 volunteer
students from
VVC during
this needed
community
service. Due
to the team
work and organization skills
of all parties involved, the
Kids Care Fair was a wonderful success, assisting between 1800 to 2000 children
during the course of 5 hours
of operation. When asked
about her over all experience
at the health fair Jamie Baber
commented, “It was fun, fast,
and if I had to do it all over
again I would. We definitely
made a difference in our
community.”
Despite the summer
break, Victor Valley
College‟s student
nurses continue to
serve their community.
Several students assisted with the college
football team‟s health
physicals taking time
Kristen McDonald, Stephanie Mueller, Rosalinda Gonout of their break dur- zalez, Katherine Wilkinson, and Heidi Tresler
ing the summer to provide needed information and
CNSA is hosting a VVC Nursing
proud to assist Victor Valley
screenings to the college‟s
Family Hockey Night
Community Hospital
young athletes. The Nursing
(VVCH) with its Kid‟s Care
students of VVC however
November 16th @ 7:00pm
Fair, on July 23rd, sending
did not keep their work to the
Ontario Reign vs. Stockton Thunder
15 of its student nurses to aid
campus alone; they also aswith everything from providsisted with promoting the
4000 E. Ontario Center Parkway, Ontario, CA 91764 (Citizens
ing valuable information,
health of their community.
Business Bank Arena) COST: $10.00 per ticket!
blood pressure checks, BMI
Contact: Deanna Scurlock for tickets. (760) 885-0268
The Victor Valley Nurschecks, immunization
dscurlock6@yahoo.com
ing Department was also
screenings, extra hands for
Nursing & Allied Health
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861