Northern graduates first class of phlebotomists

Four students were honored at a pinning ceremony in Cowan Hall Friday, where they became the first graduates of Montana State University-Northern's new phlebotomy program.

Delaney Beil, Sara Jimison, Rachel Bartlett and Deanna Linquist were all presented with pins and certificates, before being treated to cake, vanilla ice cream and fruit punch.

The students who have completed the program can now practice phlebotomy - the drawing of blood, usually from veins, for uses such as diagnostic testing or transfusion - in Montana. They also can take the test for their national certification, which will allow them to practice phlebotomy anywhere in the U.S.   

"We've got four young ladies out here who are truly trailblazers," said Arlyss Williams, chair of Northern's Department of Nursing.   

A $638,000 grant the U.S Department of Labor awarded Northern in 2014 to create new programs to develop the next generation of health care professionals was used to create the phlebotomy cohort. Northern also created certificate programs for paramedics with the grant.  

Linquist said after the ceremony that she was glad to be done with the coursework, which consisted of eight weeks of online courses and Saturday labs.

"When I was doing the phlebotomy, I had to record everything and keep track of everything so I am glad that part is over," said Linquist, who works at the Sweet Medical Center in Chinook. "Now I can get ready for my boards and become a full-certified phlebotomist and then to just advance in my career in general."

The schedule allowed students to take the course while working work full-time, Northern grants manager Samantha Clawson said. She added that Northern hopes in the future to expand the program to 12 weeks.

Montana is experiencing a shortage of health care workers, a shortage that will become more serious as more health care professionals in the state begin to retire, Clawson said.

She added it is challenging in Montana, especially in rural areas, to fill those positions.

"Even shopping is difficult in rural Montana," Clawsons said "I like to say that Havre is five hours from everywhere and so finding the education opportunities, getting to school, those are barriers that prevent people who would be interested in health care from pursuing those goals."

She said Northern went and talked with medical facilities to find out what their needs are, and what positions they need fill. What they heard back was there was a dire need for people in emergency medical services and phlebotomy.

For the past two-and-a-half years, Northern has worked to build the program with several goals in mind,. Clawson said, adding that objectives included continuing to provide high-quality health care education, creating programs to meet the needs health care facilities in rural and frontier areas, helping students achieve their goals and allowing those programs to create pathways that can be used to get more education in the health care field.

Once the coursework and syllabus were approved by a score of committees and boards, Clawson said, Northern then had to find someone who could teach the program.

"And then the heavens opened and they delivered Debbie Pratt to us," Clawson said.

She said Pratt has 25 years of experience as a phlebotomist and background in developing curriculums and teaching phlebotomy.

"We are so grateful that she was able to step into that position," Clawson said.

She said Northern will next work to get the phlebotomy program accredited through the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences. Clawson said she hopes that can be done this summer.