Press Release
Studying to being a CNA
Released: 04-04-2019
Cedar City, UT
​
My name is Allisa Horkley. I am a senior at SUU and I am planning on apply to Physician Assistant (PA) Programs in the next year. One of the requirements to graduate from SUU is that I need to complete a project that is at least 40 hours long. I decided that for this project I would take and complete a CNA course. I want to become a CNA so that I can get patient hours with is required to be accepted into a PA Program. I started my CNA class on January 12, 2019. The class was every Saturday for 12 weeks at Rigdeview CNA in St. George, UT. I applied and paid for the class online in the Fall of 2018. I would drive from Cedar City, UT to St. George every Saturday for 12 weeks.
​
I spent most of my time during the 12 weeks of the CNA course sitting in class and learning the material from the textbook. There were open labs during the 8 hour long classes. It was during these open labs that we learned how to take a persons vitals (blood pressure, pulse, and respiration), how to change a bed with someone in the bed, how to feed someone who is blind and many other skills that a CNA needs to know before they start to work. We also had to complete two 12 hour shifts at The Meadows, which is a long-term facility in St. George, UT. During these two 12 hour shifts I gained hands on experience of the different skills that we learned in class. I was able to meet with and talk to many of the residents that reside in The Meadows. The residents that I met were all very kind and patient as we learned how to properly do the different skills all CNAs have to know how to do. This was only one of the many things we had to complete before we could pass the course. Another thing we had to do was take the vitals of 48 people throughout the course of the class and complete all the questions in the workbook that we were given at the beginning of the class.
​
I am a senior at Southern Utah university. I will be graduating in May 2019. I am majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry. I am planning on applying to PA school in the next year. I wanted to become a CNA because that is what my sister is and because I need patient exposure hours for PA school. At SUU everyone is required to finish a project that is at least 40 hours long to graduate.
### I have learned a lot from doing this EDGE project and I can not wait to begin working as a CNA.
​
Contact Information
Allisa Horkley
(253) 549-5037
​
Check out my Website
​
​