Offering a helping hand to patients
Southview Hospital (Kettering Health Network)

Profile: Joann Hicks, State Test Nursing Assistant
By KEN MOSIER
For Health Care Today

Joann Hicks has seen a lot of changes in her profession since beginning her career as a nursing assistant more than 25 years ago. Mandatory background checks, fingerprinting and state testing are now required.

Once certification as a State Tested Nursing Assistant is obtained, however, job opportunities are plentiful and in a wide variety of venues including home care, nursing homes, hospices and hospitals. Although Hicks had been in the field for years, nursing homes require the state certification. So she took her formal training at Laurel Oaks — a career development center in Wilmington — and passed the state test.

She works at Southview Hospital, which is a part of the Kettering Health Network.

Hicks has worked in many areas during her career in health care.

"I did home health care over 10 years with two different companies," she said. "I worked with Alzheimer patients for three years — I did that just before I came here (to Southview Hospital)." She also worked in a number of nursing homes.

"This is my first hospital and I enjoy it."

She said working in a hospital is much different than a nursing home — although many of the duties are the same. "(Here) you get to work with patients who are not here every day. They come and they go in the hospital. A nursing home is quite a different thing." Nursing home patients, of course, live in the home for extended periods of time, enabling the caregivers to become familiar with them. On the other side of the coin, nursing home caregivers also face the death of their residents more often than in a hospital. "It is tough when losing a patient," Hicks said.

STNAs deliver food trays to patient rooms, take their blood sugar readings, blood pressure, make sure patients have fresh water and may give baths.

	Joann Hicks and fellow STNA Catie Blevins prepare to serve patient meals.

"I take care of whatever their needs are," Hicks said.

She says she works 12-hour days, but a normal schedule is only three days a week. She also has the option of taking on additional hours when needed.

Hicks said, of all her experiences, she prefers the hospital setting but likes her job no matter where it is performed.

"I love taking care of people — caring for people and helping them out," she said. "It is really (a job) to look into ... If you have a caring heart and you can care for people, it is a good opportunity."