June 2003
Contact: Holly Brooker
(845) 255-1450 xt.1301

During a candlelight pinning ceremony at SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge on June 5, 49 high school and adult students graduated from the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program of the Ulster BOCES Adult Career Education Center.

The Ulster BOCES LPN program consists of 1,200 hours of clinical and classroom training. Instructional emphasis is placed on nursing skills and scientific principles that are essential to the care of patients in the hospital setting. The instruction also enables students to function as an integral part of a healthcare team.

Ulster BOCES School of Surgical Technology Graduates

The graduating students from the Ulster BOCES School of Surgical Technology class celebrated their achievement along with family, friends, and community members Thursday, June 4, in the Beaux Seas restaurant at the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center located on Route 9W in Port Ewen.

“The class consists of 996 hours of study, 50 percent clinical and 50 percent didactic studies,” states Diane Davies, supervisor of Health Occupations and New Visions at Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center.

Under the direction of instructors Joan Manka, RN and Peggy Bengert, RN, the students learned how to master instrumentation surgery skills, which according to Davies, places these surgical technicians in a position of great value to the surgeon in the operating room.

The Ulster BOCES School of Surgical Technology has received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. The Ulster BOCES program is currently one of only ten accredited Surgical Technology training programs in New York State. Area hospitals that offered their facilities to these students for training were Vassar Brothers and St. Francis Hospitals, Poughkeepsie; Benedictine Hospital and the Hurley Avenue Surgical Center, Kingston; Columbia Memorial Hospital, Hudson; Northern Dutchess Hospital, Rhinebeck; St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital, Newburgh; and Orange Regional Medical Center, Middletown.

“This is an innovative new program, and its success is attributed to the community working with us to make this happen,” states Davies. She added that as a direct result of this course, most of the graduates have already gained employment at area medical facilities.