For the last six weeks, four certified nursing assistant students have been receiving some intense firsthand experience on how to care for people — at a nursing home during a pandemic.

The students are enrolled in CNA training offered at the Brown County Career Resource Center. Students are in class for three weeks before starting six weeks of clinical training at Brown County Health and Living.

Senior citizens are at high risk of dying if they contract the virus, so protecting the residents at BCH&L is more important now than ever before.

When the students began their clinical training, protocols at the nursing home quickly started changing. From the beginning, the students had their temperatures taken at the door before they could enter the building.

“We were there probably a couple of weeks, then we had to wear the blue surgical masks,” student Alyssa Douglas said.

A specific hall in the nursing home is set aside for anyone who has symptoms resembling the coronavirus, like a fever or cough, where they will be quarantined for two weeks.

No residents at BCH&L have tested positive for the virus, the students said last week.

Visitors are also not allowed in the nursing home right now, but they are allowed to drop items off at the reception desk.

All of the residents have been quarantined to their rooms. They cannot go to the dining hall and all activities are done from their doorways.

“I think it’s really taken its toll on the residents because they can’t see their loved ones right now and they’re pretty well isolated,” said student Kristen Hatchett.

The students say they feel protected at the nursing home and that they have access to plenty of personal protection equipment, like masks and gowns. “They are very good at protecting people, making sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to, whether it be wearing masks, washing hands. They’re always emphasizing those things we need to do to protect ourselves and the residents from getting this,” said student Courtney Smith-David.

But it is stressful at times doing what they can to protect the residents from a virus raging outside in the world.

“A lot of it, they don’t understand. A lot of it, for them, I feel like it’s scary, because one day we go in there and they can see our face, then the next day, we’re wearing a mask,” Douglas said.

The students and BCHL staff all pull together to help each other out, Douglas said.

“If somebody can’t get to this call light, then someone from another hall, if not busy, will go there and be like, ‘I’ve got it.’ If someone needs trash taken out, then somebody else will grab it,” she said.

“We just kind of work together and try to keep it as normal as possible for the residents, just because it is unusual for all of us to be in masks and gowns.”

Giving love, care

The CNAs and other staff at BCH&L are filling an even bigger role in the lives of residents, as they are the only people the residents can socialize with right now.

“Their families will come to the windows on the outside and talk to them, but other than that, really, the only people they see day in and day out are nursing staff, the CNAs, the kitchen aides and people like that,” Douglas said.

Hatchett said this pandemic has added more responsibility to her job.

“I feel like the more I’m there and the more time I spend with each and every one of them, making sure they have everything they need and going the extra mile to make them feel loved makes them feel better about all of this. I know they are lonely,” she said.

“It makes me feel better that I can provide a hug here and there, a back rub or just whatever extra stuff they need.”

Caring for our county’s most vulnerable citizens during a pandemic is nervewracking, Smith-David said.

“I am responsible for all of their health. If I am not careful, which I am a very careful person about it anyways, I can get them sick and they can die because of it,” she said.

“I am very responsible. I don’t leave my house unless I have to, like to go get groceries or get gas. … It’s very nervewracking because at any point I could contract it and not even know it.”

Douglas worked at the nursing home previously in the kitchen and as a receptionist, but left to work at a daycare for three years. She recently applied to work as a CNA at the nursing home, and once she is done with her clinical training, she will begin work there as an interim CNA until she can be certified.

The students have to take a test to be certified as a CNA with the state. Their test is scheduled for April 30, but since it involves hands-on testing showing they know resident care procedures along with a written test, the students are concerned it will be postponed.

“It’s kind of unfortunate, because I really wanted to get out there and start getting paid to do what I just trained for, but I plan on working at Brown County Health and Living once I can get certified with the state test,” Hatchett said.

“Right now I’m just trying to get hired on, get my foot in the door, so I can eventually get on day shift. That’s probably my best with my two kids.”

Smith-David also plans to work at Brown County Health and Living.

The students say that studying to be a CNA during a pandemic has given them more experience than they could have imagined.

“It has pushed me more so to be a CNA. I look at it if we can make it through this, we can pretty much make it through anything,” Douglas said.

“Normally you don’t have to wear a mask, ever, unless they have an infection or the flu,” Hatchett said. “We’re just learning to be a lot more careful.”

CNA’s are responsible for making sure the residents are clean and comfortable.

“If we’re not there to help take care of them, who’s going to?” Smith-David said. “Because the nurses have to take care of the medical side of stuff. We’re there to take care of their needs and wants. If they want something, they come to us.’”

‘I have to protect them’

Working with and caring for seniors is the reason Douglas, Smith-David and Hatchett all decided to become CNAs.

“I did my classroom time, and then once I stepped foot back in the nursing home I was just like, ‘This is where I belong.’ I actually missed being the nursing home for the short time I wasn’t there,” Douglas said.

Hatchett said being a CNA is her to way give back to the generations before her.

“I feel like they give us so much of the wisdom and the experience that we need,” Hatchett said.

“I feel like I could give back as a CNA by trying to help them out and make them feel like the place they’re at is worth living.”

Smith-David said she loves helping people, especially seniors. “Their stories — I love working with people. They’re a lot of fun to get to know,” she said.

Having children at home means some of the students have to take extra precautions to keep the little ones safe, too.

“It’s scary,” Hatchett said.

Some change out of their scrubs and back into street clothes before going home to their families, placing work shoes in boxes in their cars. Others go straight home to shower and do laundry before disinfecting their cars and picking up their children from childcare.

Overall, though, this experience has been positive for the students.

“Everyone through this whole process has been positive and uplifting. There’s been a couple of days where we’ve had a test and we didn’t do as well as we thought; then, our teacher and Christy (Wrightsman) at the CRC, they’ve been like, ‘You got this, you can do this.’”

Wrigthsman is the CRC director. She said the CRC is proud of this class and instructor Karen Goff-Powers.

“These four ladies have entered the healthcare profession at a time when many would have run from it. Their perseverance is unmatched,” she said.

“We certainly never expected to be training the next set of CNAs in the midst of a global pandemic, but the opportunity to prepare CNAs to support our local community is needed now more than ever. The CRC is thankful to Brown County Health and Living for the strong support and partnership of this program.”

The next CNA class will begin on June 1. Anyone interested should call the CRC at 812-988-5880.

Hatchett said before she began this program, she did not take CNAs seriously, and now she does.

“I have seen firsthand what they do on a daily basis, and I have so much respect for people who are in the medical field. Whether they’re a top-of-the-line doctor or anything, pretty much, anybody in the healthcare field is just awesome,” she said.

Smith-David said the experience has been smooth and chaotic at the same time. “The N95 masks are hard to deal with. You can’t breathe out of them very well. The residents keep their rooms hot, so you’re sweating. You want to take them off because you’re hot,” she said.

But knowing she is protecting the residents means she will keep that mask on no matter what.

“I know I could be a carrier and not even know it. I have to protect them,” she said.

“I will stick it out as long as I can, then I’ll go outside and breathe some fresh air, because I know their systems can’t handle it like mine could.”