Allegan initiative widens nursing pipeline for Portage spouses

By David Davis

Ten years ago, Kenneth and Laurie Raleigh’s paths intertwined amidst the backdrop of a health-care setting.

“My brother, who was married to Ken’s sister, was in the hospital dying from cancer,” Laurie said. “I had never met Ken before, and in the waiting room I was like, ‘Oh, who are you?’”

Two years later the couple was married, and today the Raleighs’ entire lives revolve around the medical profession. They are enrolled in KVCC’s new, part-time, Allegan County-based training program for nurses.

Ken, 47, has been a patient-care assistant (PCA) in Bronson Methodist Hospital’s emergency room for nearly five years and Laurie, 48, has worked in occupational health at Bronson for 17 years.

Even their children have taken to caring for the medical needs of others.

“My son is a PCA out in Seattle, and Laurie’s son works as an RN at Borgess Hospital,” Ken said.

KVCC’s part-time training program, centered at the Allegan County Area Technical and Education Center, was made possible by a state grant from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. The “Accelerated Health Care Career Initiative” gave $531,000 to Allegan General Hospital to expand the region’s labor force of certified nurses.

“If we didn’t have this opportunity to go to school part time, we would’ve had a lot more difficulty completing school,” Ken said. “To go to school full time, we would’ve had to cut back our hours at work and take out loans on our house. Now we can pay our bills and finish school.”

While Laurie wanted to enter the nursing program to help advance in her current job, Ken, a trained machinist and CNC operator, changed career paths five years ago to give himself more occupational flexibility.

“As a nurse, I see myself more comfortable in the job market,” he said. “I never had trouble getting a job before, but there were a lot of ups and downs. The nursing market is never going to change and making a little kid smile because you’ve helped him feel better is the real reward.”

Ken and Laurie take three classes and are in school 15 hours a week. The two are enrolled in a nursing-theory course, a clinical course, and a lab.

Nursing 130, the nursing-theory course, teaches and tests the Raleighs on the critical-thinking aspect of nursing, knowing symptoms of illnesses and proper vital signs.

Their lab course, Nursing 145, teaches the Raleighs the skills necessary for work in the medical field, and utilizes some of the resources made available by the state grant.

“We have about 14 full-size dummies and specialized dummies that we use to learn how to listen to differing

lung sounds and the four chambers of the heart,” Ken said. “We learn how to help patients into wheelchairs and other helping skills. Laurie and I have the advantage, however, since we have experience in health care.”

The Raleighs say their favorite class is their clinical course where the two have worked in nursing homes in Allegan and Wayland, and will soon move to helping new mothers and their babies.

“At the nursing homes we have gotten attached to our patients,” Laurie said. “Our course work forces us to get to know the people we help because we assess their whole lives. We’re looking forward to helping new-born babies. We’re ready for it.”

Ken enjoys their clinical course because, as a PCA at Bronson, he is beginning to perform duties restricted to nurses.

“I go to my work at Bronson and say ‘I gave drugs last night!’” he said “I’ve worked four years in a hospital and never gave anybody a pill. ”

Ken also said the residents and staff at the nursing homes they work in for their clinical course genuinely appreciate the students.

“We give the staff a lot of help and we have more time to spend with the residents,” he said. “We are working with real people and it’s like doing the real thing.”

Being life partners and schoolmates at the same time has advantages for the Raleighs.  The two say they use their 45-minute drive from Portage to classes to quiz each other on test material and course work.

“It’s nice because we always have a study partner,” Laurie said.

The Raleighs do have their dreams, and the ultimate vision of their future lives includes working as nurses, possibly traveling to other areas, and following their passions.

“After we finish school, we can go anywhere there is a hospital,” said Ken. “We think about taking three-month contracts in sunny places down South and being snow birds. What I really like is I can work three 12-hour days and

use the rest of my week to play golf. At heart I really am a golf-aholic.”

Surrounded by the health-care field for much of their lives and intimately connected with the medical profession, Ken and Laurie Raleigh are utilizing KVCC’s new nursing program to forward their goals of improving themselves and their occupational opportunities. They have not, however, forgotten that the true nature of their calling is caring for other people, and using their education to help alleviate suffering.

“To help someone, to care, it is rewarding in that sense,” Ken said.            CS