Most PCC Nursing Grads Work Here

About 80% of students who study in public safety and health service programs at Pueblo Community College stay to work in Pueblo after graduating.

Alexis Odiaga is one of those students.

She graduated from PCC’s nursing program in 2017 and soon became a nurse at Parkview Medical Center, serving in the medical intensive care unit. Now she works in the cardiovascular ICU.

“PCC’s program helped me develop the knowledge and skills that I needed to give safe care and to be a safe nurse and how to make good decisions for my patients,” Odiaga said.

“They gave me the foundation to develop my critical thinking skills.”

Paula Kirchner, dean of nursing at PCC, said this year that 49 students in her program graduated from the Pueblo campus, 30 students from the Fremont campus, and 27 from the Mancos campus.

PCC started the first paramedic to RN program in the state last year. Eight paramedics graduated from that program, all of whom became nurses.

“I would say out of all of our graduates in Pueblo, a good 80% of them stay in Pueblo. And in the Fremont campus, probably 90% stay either in Pueblo or Fremont (County),” Kirchner said.

Kirchner said 100% of the graduating students in the program stay in the Mancos area after graduation.

“I think the fact that graduates stay in the community is huge,” Kirchner said.

“We attract non-traditional students. They are established in their communities and they tend to want to stay there and continue with their family life there.”

Clinical rotations are arranged within the students’ communities, which allows local facilities to get to know PCC students.

Kirchner, who graduated from PCC’s nursing program in 1994, said this is how PCC always has been.

“I was out in the community working for 24 years and now I am back as the dean over it all. That’s a great opportunity,” she said.

“The director of nurses at Parkview and I graduated together, so she also stayed in the community. She is back leading 800 and some people there.”

“It’s pretty significant that we get a great foundation as beginning nurses and we can stay in our community, build our skills, continue our education and still give back to our communities.”

Odiaga, who originally is from Denver, said she chose to stay in Pueblo after graduating from PCC because of opportunities at Parkview.

She said PCC is connected to local hospitals.

“Nurses are in demand and they always will be, but nurses need to be a safe nurse. Our community needs people in that position that would be able to make good decisions, especially in the times of COVID-19,” Odiaga said.

“During this time, the demand for nurses just skyrocketed because people are sick. I know PCC’s program ingrained in us all along the skills to help us hit the ground running when we entered the workforce.”

Kirchner said former students are on the front line of the battle against coronavirus.

“COVID-19 has really changed higher education for nursing in the fact that we were in the midst of our spring semester when we had every level of student needing to complete their clinical rotations,” Kirchner said.

“It was difficult because hospitals were not allowing our students in, to protect the students as well as to conserve all the PPE (personal protective equipment) that was available at the time.”

Kirchner said the State Board of Nursing later allowed students to complete more than 50% of their clinical hours through simulation.

Mary Chavez, dean of health professions and public safety at PCC, said the college has several health programs that offer training for a variety of health and first responders students.

“It’s nice that a lot of our students stay in the area,” Chavez said.

“A lot of our students are in the front lines of COVID-19, especially our graduates that work in hospitals and nursing homes.”

Chavez, who has been at PCC for about 30 years, said she is proud of her former students.

“We see them everywhere. Every time I go into a health care facility for my own care, 90% of the time there’s a graduate from PCC giving that care,” Chavez said.

“I have full confidence in them. I feel like we trained them well.”

PCC health programs at the bachelor of applied science or bachelor of science degree level include advanced paramedic practitioner, dental hygiene, nursing- bachelor of science (RN – BSN), radiologic technology (MRI or CT Scan) and respiratory therapy.

Health programs at the associate of applied science degree level include behavioral health, dental hygiene, nursing (RN, LPN-RN), paramedic- RN, occupational therapy assistant, physical therapist assistant, radiologic technology, respiratory care and surgical technology.

Health and first responder programs at the certificate level with an AAS degree option include medial assistant, fire science, law enforcement academy and paramedic.

Health programs at the certificate level only include EMT and advanced EMT, licensed practical nurse (LPN), nurse aide, pharmacy tech, phlebotomy tech and psychiatric tech.

PCC also offers the courses for certified addiction counseling level I and II.

Chavez said PCC depends heavily on Parkview and St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center as well as private practice.

“A lot of times these facilities are not getting paid to take on our students. Our students get hands-on opportunities. We collaborate and we couldn’t train these students without collaborating together. It’s a true partnership,” Chavez said.