Bemidji High School Opens Access to CNA Program with New Lab

As Bemidji High School welcomes students to a new school year, they are also introducing a new addition to one classroom.

The Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Program training lab provides the opportunity to practice on-site, giving the students a more accessible environment for their education. The on-site lab can allow for students to bypass the challenges of traveling to another location for training.

“By having it located here [at the school], this allows anyone who wants to pursue some health care opportunity to do that without having to have those barriers,” said Renee Axtman, Sanford Health Bemidji Nursing and Clinical Services Vice President.

“It’s all right here for them,” noted Sanford Bemidji CEO Karla Eischens. “Easy to work in, practice, testing out and all kinds of stuff.”

The equipment is donated by Sanford Health to Northwest Technical College. An NTC instructor will also be teaching the course at Bemidji High School.

“That just really brings to life to education for students,” said Bemidji State University and NTC President John Hoffman. “It makes it relevant and meaningful so they can see themselves in the careers that they’re thinking about.”

The lab is a product of Independent School District 31 working with Sanford Health-Bemidji and NTC. This partnership extends past the classroom and into the community.

“Bemidji High School to the university, those numbers are up to 40% this year,” noted Hoffman. “The high school to the technical college, we’ve doubled our enrollment because of these types of partnerships. It’s creating new opportunities for high school students to access education and careers that serve the community.”

“A partnership is so important for us as we look at providing health care to our community and needing workforce,” said Eischens.

Through this addition, it could also possibly help alleviate a workforce shortage in healthcare.

“This is huge because we have a need for health care workers in the future,” said Axtman. “And what better way to start is when you’re in high school, what are your interests, and it just removes barriers.”

With the new training lab, the CNA Program at BHS is anticipated to possibly graduate up to 60 CNAs a year.