Victor Valley College
The Journal
The Bi-Monthly Nursing School and Allied Health Newsletter Letter
March 2012 Volume 2 No. 1
Our ASB Advisor Expresses his Thanks
Article By
Robert Sewell
Photos By
Robert Sewell
I used to have a healthy respect for our patient and
highly trained VVC Nursing
Faculty. An appreciation
continuously enhanced by
the high NCLEX pass rate of
our students, in some instances at 100%. However
five years ago, my respect
for our Faculty and the pride
felt for the accomplishments
of students took a turn. A
turn or passion that can only
be described as love, a love
for who they are, a love for
what they do and a love for
the confidence I felt when
interacting with our alumni
& student interns in a personal real-life setting.
Knowing full well that the
feeling of confidence that I
felt was directly related to
the experiences and education our students are subject
to at Victor Valley College.
Five years ago, on Friday,
Oct 27, during a routine
exam my wife was advised
not to leave Kaiser Hospital.
Our new son, Jacob Allen
was in need of visiting us 6.5
weeks early and so a preterm
delivery was necessary. The
parental nervousness was
evident, the knowledge about
baby lo-jack; bili lights;
heart, respiratory & blood
pressure monitors and his
pulse oximiter. To me the
most important piece of the
protective environment was
that the nurses on duty, those
protecting the most important thing in my life at
that moment was they
had graduated from the
VVC nursing School.
Essentially my work
family taking care of
my personal family.
Though nervous, I felt
a sense of confidence
that all was well. Until
of course, I was able to
witness the heel stick
… professionally administered, yet one of
Robert Sewell and his son Jacob Allen
the most painful things
Sewell
I remember seeing.
Jokingly,
I asked the nurse
underdevelopment of lungs,
for her name, letting her
immunity & skin was shared
know I would let my son
as well as other potential
know later in life as I knew
complications.
that must have hurt.
Our 5.1 pound of joy was
born that evening and moved
The last four days of my
into the NICU protective
son's stay, he was monitored
environment equipped with
by our VVC Student Interns.
My focus was on my son and
was made easier by seeing
the VVC Patches on their
shoulders, I felt more confidant and secure in the care he
was receiving.
My respect for the quality of
our program and the students
we prepare moved from a
level of respect to a passion
equivalent to love. My son
stayed for 12 twelve days
until he was able to come
home on Election Day,
Tuesday, Nov 7. That day we
also found out that our Bond
Measure had passed and our
new Public Safety Center
would become a reality in
the not to distant future. A
couple days later we had a
home nurse visit who had an
intern with her, they were
professional and capable, yet
I did not feel the confidence
as I had days earlier.
Thank you to the VVC for
our wonderful nursing faculty, students and alumni ...
You continue to make a difference and have for me and
my family.
Test Your Knowledge
The nurse is providing home care dietary instructions to a client
who has been hospitalized for pancreatitis. Which of the following
foods would the nurse instruct the client to avoid to prevent recurrence?
(see the last page for answers and reasoning)
A. Chili
B. Bagels
C. Lentil soup
D. Watermelon
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
March 2012 Page 2
Introducing the New Skill and Simulation Labs for VVC
Story By
Anita Arnold
Photos By
Anita Arnold
logical activity
such as respiratory and heart
sounds, coughing and even
sweating.
These mannequins can
“respond” to
interventions
and give students immediate, realistic
feedback.
narios, and student
workers Danielle
Harris and Kim
Rendon provide the
support staff. Students have deA good nurse doesn’t just
scribed the more
need a solid academic backrealistic manneground, but practical skills.
quins as “awesome”
Each semester students learn
and “creepy”, and
practical skills in the skills
seem to agree that
lab. At VVC, students are
Prof. Barbara Eitchen and students working in the new skills lab the lessons garnered
able to go one step further –
from these
they can test their new skills
ment and maintenance of the
“patients” is invaluable.
on one of the simulaSIM lab, and he is excited
tion mannequins in
This type of technology is
about the changes. Working
the new SIM
expensive (one hi fidelity
hard to stay ahead of the
(Simulation) lab.
mannequin costs $90,000)
technology and develop the
but it is well worth it. And
lab to its full potential, he is
The SIM lab was
there are more changes to
“still learning and loving it”.
expanded this year
come. Truelove envisions
To
Truelove,
the
SIM
lab
is
a
to include six new
integrating other technology
place
where
“students
can
beds (donated by
into the program such as
have
the
freedom
to
make
Kaiser and Desert
cameras to provide students
decisions
by
trial
and
error
Valley hospitals).
with immediate and accurate
without the real-life risks or
Ten low fidelity
feedback and web based
consequences”. After each
mannequins are used
documentation programs –
simulation Truelove and the
to practice skills
future plans even include a
lead teachers provide desuch as Foley cathenew building with a virtual
Prof.
Terry
Truelove
and
Stan
briefing
and
evaluate
student
ters and NG tubes.
hospital. Stay tuned!
performance.
Sandra
In addition, there are
Professor Terry Truelove is
Hendricksen
and
Barbara
two high fidelity mannequins
responsible for the developEichen help execute the scethat are capable of physio-
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
These sections are dedicated to highlighting the nursing Alumni of VVC. Their leadership and contributions to the community are worthy of acknowledgement.
Silvia Portillo VVC School of Nursing Class of 2003
Story By: Elizabeth Vandom Photo Provided By: Silvia Portillo
ALUNMI 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
When asking most students
and faculty about Professor
Silvia Portillo, RN MSNc,
comments like: kind, patient,
intelligent, and organized are
often mentioned. One of the
greatest aspects of Professor
Portillo is her desire to teach
and share her knowledge with
others. She has been a part
time instructor with the college for 4 years, and continues due to her passion for
teaching. She loves seeing
her students have an epiphany
over information she has
shared with them, or in her
terms the “gold nuggets” she
loves to pass on to those she
instructs. She also mentioned
that she might take on the role
of a full time instructor later in
the future due to her enjoyment
of working with her students in
the clinical setting.
Upon graduation she worked in
Med/Surg to broaden her experiences and develop her skills
before moving on to Oncology.
She mentioned one of the greatest honors was being with the
family and their dying loved
one, as they transition into
death. After working in Oncology Mrs. Portillo moved to on to
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
the ICU and continues there
today. She currently instructs
students for their NP3 ICU/ER
rotation at St Mary’s medical
center here in the High Desert.
Prof. Portillo mentioned that
nursing is a calling not a job.
She wanted all of us to make
sure we love what we are doing.
She went on to say that, “No
one can speak for your patient,
but you. Be proactive, speak for
your patient; be an advocate.”
Prof. Portillo would also like to
convey that she would not be
where she is today, if it hadn’t
been for the support of God and
her family.
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861
The Journal Victor Valley College
March 2012 Page 3
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Tammy Heredia VVC School of Nursing Class of 2006
Story By: Connie Rivera-Albertsen Photo By: Scott Face
Interested in purchasing AD space to support this news letter?
Please contact the Nursing
Department at 760-2454271 for more details.
Professor Tammy Heredia, MSN,
She was raising three children,
honor of this amazing field in
a 2006 VVC Nursing Program
was a military wife and worked
health care. She strongly feels
graduate currently works as a full
part-time as a clinical instructor
that the VVC Nursing Program
time staff RN in the ICU at the VA
for the VVC Respiratory Therapy
does a great job in combining the
Loma Linda Medical Center. The
Program. Her first RN position
right amount of skills, clinical and
past two years she has also served
was in the ICU at St Mary’s Medi-
didactic training to create a well
as a VVC NP1 Clinical Instructor.
cal Center. Within her first year
rounded, knowledgeable, new
Her Allied Health background also
assigned to the ICU she began to
graduate nurse.
includes CNA and Respiratory
preceptor new RN grads.
Therapist.
She goes on to say teaching nurs-
Professor Heredia did face some
ing students allows her to have a
struggles while in Nursing School.
hand in securing the dignity and
Professor Heredia concludes by
saying she always bases her nursing practice on the “Golden Rule”
and takes a lot of pride serving
our Nation’s Veterans.
Faculty Corner
Article By
Elizabeth Vandom
Photo Provided by
Prof. Jeanine Speakman
Most of us will remember our
experience in the Associates
Program for Nursing here at
VVC; we will remember our
blunders and those that helped
us through them. One of many
who have shaped and guided us
as nurses is Professor Speakman, RN MSN. She is one of
our first experiences in the nursing field. Because of this and
her dedication to teaching, she
imprints herself upon our
memories always.
One thing that Prof. Speakman
conveys is a gentle kindness.
Whether it be listening to students who are panicked about
grades or time conflicts she
continues to stand firm on her
open door policy; allowing anyone of her past and present students to drop in and discuss
their concerns with her. She
does her best to be the student
advocate not only with the students she personally teaches, but
also with those students in later
semesters. She volunteered to
Nursing & Allied Health
Service to her Field with an Open Door and Heart
assist with the PEEP’s program
in order to help us as students
support one another. This continued dedication steams not
only from her desire to see us
succeed, but also from her desire to prevent us from falling
behind our classmates. One of
the hardest things she admits for
her as a professor
is watching as her
students fall behind and have to
repeat semesters.
To understand
what led Prof.
Speakman to become one of our
instructors we have
to understand a bit
of her history. She
graduated from
VVC in 1994 and was instructed
by many of the instructors we
continue to see in our classrooms today. Even upon leaving VVC as a RN she desired
nothing more than to come back
to this institution and teach.
One of her inspirations for this
choice was watching Professor
Diego Garcia, RN MSN, work
through his Masters degree, and
watch his successes as a professor and nurse even with his
language and cultural differences. During the nursing program Prof. Speakman worked
for one of the local school districts to help support her family
while her husband was away
with military duties.
Like many of us she
balanced caring for
her children, studying, attending
classes, and working to earn her
Nursing Degree and
achieve her goals.
After graduating in
1994 she was hired
as a float nurse at St
Bernadine’s. In that
first year she moved through
every section of the hospital,
save NICU, giving her a broad
view of the nurse’s role within
all areas of hospital care. Eventually she focused on ICU. She
admitted to enjoying working
with the cardiac side of ICU far
more than other areas of specialty.
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
When her daughter enrolled in
the VVC nursing program she
opted to work closer to Victor
Valley College and moved to St
Mary’s Medical center ICU and
step down units. It was here
that she found the time and desire to finish her Bachelors and
Masters degrees in nursing.
One thing that she feels very
strongly about is the fact nursing
is a lifelong commitment to
learning. The VVC nursing
program gives us the tools to be
competent safe nurses, but it is
our job to continue that education and to grow each day as
individuals and as nurses. One
of the greatest hopes Prof.
Speakman has for all the nurses
she has the opportunity to instruct is that they will not only
be patient advocates, but also be
a competent part of the health
care team. Due to this team
relationship within nursing she
feels it is extremely important to
know your limitations, understand what you are capable of,
and be responsible enough to
ask for help when ever you may
need it.
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861
The Journal Victor Valley College
March 2012 Page 4
Faculty Courner (Cont’d)
Story and Photo By:
Prof. Alice Ramming, RN, MSN
Victor Valley College has
been my "home" base off and
on for the last 21 years. I had
been a staff development
educator, but VVC gave me
the opportunity to teach nursing students which was my
long term goal. I was mentored by Dixie Galvez, Diane
Cline, and Nancy Green as a
novice adjunct clinical instructor. I have been a fulltime faculty member for the
last eight years after 2.5
years at Antelope Valley
A Couple Words about Prof. Ramming
College. I am proud to be a
member of the VVC nursing
faculty. I feel that we work
well as a team, even
when we are not in
complete agreement.
I have been a nurse
43 years, since
graduation from
MT. Sac as an ADN
RN. I am a California State University
graduate with a
Master's degree in
nursing education.
My experience as a nurse has
been in critical care, nursing
management, rehabilitation,
medical surgical
nursing until 11
years ago when I
went into mental
health nursing. I
have worked parttime at Loma
Linda University
Behavioral Medical Center for the
last 8 years. I have
had a very interesting career, because
I have taken the opportunity
to learn and change with the
environment.
My goal for the future generation of nurses is to instill a
sense of caring and competence. I was recently hospitalized and our graduates
cared for me. I had an immense sense of pride that
they were caring and provided me with excellent care.
Inspiration for Creating Change
Story By: Elizabeth Vandom Photo Provided by: John Currie RN, MSNc
John Currie, RN MSNc, currently instructs NP3 students
during their Psych rotation and
has worked as an RN for nearly
21 years. After graduating
Loma Linda University in 1990
he finished a seven month training program to become a certi-
fied NICU nurse for Loma
Linda Medical center. Along
with working NICU Mr. Currie
also worked in the Loma Linda
Psych unit. While working at
the Loma Linda VA Hospital he
began to notice a need within
the large community of Veterans in the Southern California
area. Many of the Veterans he
served were homeless and
lacked the needed resources to
maintain their health.
So in 2003, Mr. Currie created a
non-profit organization to assist
with the various needs he began
to see within his corner of the
world. The International Reach
and Teach Institute strives to
assist with health education,
supportive care services, and
guidance to at-risk youth, seniors, veterans, and families
within Las Vegas, NV and California Inland Empire areas. A
year after starting the non-profit
organization Mr. Currie began
instructing at VVC. He continues to instruct for us due to his
love of the profession of nursing, his continued enjoyment of
sharing his knowledge with
future generations, and his enjoyment of the exchange of
ideas instructing provides.
When asked if there were any
words of wisdom he would like
to share with the future nurses
of VVC he said, “Change starts
within yourself then spreads
abroad. If you want to see
change, start it, then it will
grow and become infectious to
others around you.” If you
would like more information
about John Currie, RN MSNc,
feel free to visit his organizations web page at: http://
www.reachandteachonline.org
VVC Nursing Department Helps Those in Need
Story By
Elizabeth Vandom
Photo by
Kimberly Burns
In November and December
of this past year the Victor
Valley Nursing program participated in a food and toy drive
for families and children in
need. Our local CNSA were
responsible for organizing both
drives.
Due to the hard work from
Kimberly Burns and Melissa
Bommarito, the project coordinators of CNSA, the nursing
Nursing & Allied Health
program was able to collect
enough toys for more than
twenty
Angel tree
children
and
enough
food for
three families for this
past holiday season. When
asked
about the
toy and food drives Miss
Burns (NP4) commented,
“These were such rewarding
projects, I enjoyed being able
to help put them together.
They were
so surprised
with how
much food
and toys we
were able to
gather. So it
was good to
know that
we were
making a
positive
impact in
our community and showing
what Nursing is all about.
CNSA is so grateful to every-
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
one who so generously contributed to the food and toy
drives.” Even with only a
couple weeks to organize and
collect the needed food and
toys before the Fall of 2011
semester ended, we were able
to collect a substantial
amount reducing the suffering
of those within our community. Let us hope that this
example of selfless service
continues throughout our
nursing career as well as
throughout Victor Valley
Colleges Nursing Program’s
continued existence.
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861
The Journal Victor Valley College
March 2012 Page 5
A Night of Elegance
VVC Nursing would like to invite its alumni to join us on May 11th from 6 pm to 10 pm in the
Student Activities Center at Victor Valley College for Dinner, Music, and Special Guest speakers
Tickets are $30 for individual or $50 for couples
Dress is Semi-formal
The deadline to purchase tickets is April 11, 2012
Make checks payable to: VVC Foundation
Mail to: Victor Valley College
Attn: Sally Thibeault
18422 Bear Valley Rd
Victorville, CA 92395
A portion of the proceeds benefit the Nursing Student Scholarship Fund
Correct Answer: A
Test Your Knowledge Answer and Rationale
Rationale:
Cullen’s sign is the discoloration of the abdomen and periumbilical areas.
Pancreatitis is the acute or chronic inflammation of the pancreas with the associated
Turners sign is the bluish coloration of the flanks both are sigs indicative of
escape of pancreatic enzymes into surrounding tissue. The client must avoid alco-
pancreatitis.
hol, coffee, tea, spicy foods, and heavy meals which stimulate pancreatic secretions
Test Taking Strategy:
and produce attacks of pancreatitis. The client is instructed regarding the benefit of
Use the process of elimination, noting that options B, C, and D are foods that
eating small, frequent meals that are high in protein , low in fat, and moderate to
are moderately bland. Option A is different in that chili is a spicy food. Re-
high in carbohydrates.
view the dietary measures for the client with pancreatitis if you had difficulty
Priority Nursing Tip:
with this question.
Don’t forget to order your scrubs and other
nursing supplies at advanced to help nursing
students now and in the future have wonderful
graduations. Use the code provided at the left
and go to
http://www.vvcrams.com/
Buy anything at this site with the use of the
code and support your fellow nurses.
Acknowledgments
Peers Empowering & Educating Peers (PEEPs)
This section is to thank those that worked hard to help create and promote this newsletter.
Director:
Dr. Joseph Morris, CNS, GNP, PhD
Supervising Instructor:
Prof. Alice Ramming, RN
Editor:
Elizabeth Vandom, SN NP4
Story Writers:
Robert Sewell ASB Advisor
Prof. Alice Ramming, RN
Elizabeth Vandom, SN NP4
Anita Arnold, SN NP4
Connie Rivera-Albertsen, SN NP3
Photographers:
Anita Arnold, SN NP4
Kimberly Burns, SN NP4
Nursing & Allied Health
Special Thanks to:
Dr. Joseph Morris– For your encouragement and continued involvement.
The PEEPs program is a volunteer
program designed for nursing stuProf. Alice Ramming– Your calm kindness and assistance
dents enrolled at VVC. The intenAnita Arnold– For your continued willingness to help with the newsletter and
tion of the program is to provide
to assist all those who ask.
supplemental support to students
Connie Rivera-Albertsen– For your excitement and enthusiastic involvement that are having difficulty with comprehending the theoretical and
in your school’s community
clinical concepts in nursing …for
NP4 class of Spring 2012– Thank you for your continued dedication to our
more information visit my PEEPs at
school and perseverance no matter the trials that we may face.
Donna Derryberry– Thank you for always being willing to take the time to
help.
WWW.VVCPEEPS.PBWORKS.
COM
Laura Katnic– Your always willing to lend a hand when ever asked and we
thank you.
Or Contact Anita Arnold
Saunder’s 5th ed NCLEX Review– Thank you for providing us with the review NCLEX question
Victor Valley College 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395
mtnfolks@verizon.net
ph: (760)245-4271 fax:(760) 951-5861