Proud of our CNA's

Eastside's Certified Nursing Assistant Program collaborates with Ivy Tech and Laurels of DeKalb to keep this program in house. The students are enrolled in a dual credit course where they have attended classes and gone to labs/clinicals at Ivy Tech. Hands-on experience happens locally at Laurels under the direction of Angie Dunakin. The standards for professionalism, academics, and community involvement is set very high for the Eastside students. These students completed 120 state approved hours (40 in the classroom and 80 in labs/clinicals), passed their Ivy Tech Exam, and passed both written and competency skills exams.

The Laurels of Dekalb staff, and myself are beyond proud of this group of students also. This was a very academic, eager, mature young group. They blended nicely with our staff and did a wonderful job with our guests. They took their learning and tasks very seriously. We were very fortunate to have had them in our building, helping with the care of our residents. The program itself has been a blessing for our very small rural building. It's always wonderful to see the community stay together. Hopefully we can be part of the reason they go on into healthcare as it's needed now more than ever. I'd like to personally thank Ivy Tech Community College, Shelly Dobbler and Eastside High School for partnering with us. Ivy Tech's program had a big hand in helping our building through staffing issues during Covid and continues to bring us into a better future for our guests and staff. We are blessed with this connection and thank you. - Angie Dunakin, Director of Nursing