The Learning Pad Newsletter

Archive for August, 2011

We are very proud of Paula Lavizzo and all that she has accomplished. Before she started with the Medical Assistant program here at The Learning Pad, she worked many years in manufacturing. As with most, the manufacturing industry had a downturn and she needed to find another career. She always wanted to learn and work in the healthcare area, but she had to be a provider for her family. Now the kids were out of the house, she could focus on her own education and advancement.

Paula was sponsored by the rural Workforce Center and her counselor was Jamie Jenkins.

Paula quickly excelled in class and with all her hands-on clinical activities. Soon she was showing the newer ones in class how to perform venipunctures and EKG’s.

Paula soon found an externship with Specially for Children . She was a little worried if she would secure it as she needed a part time externship since she had to get a job. They were able to work with her and provide her part time hours. And as with other students of The Learning Pad, they were impressed enough with her abilities, that they extended employment to her. And she is not fully done with her externship yet!

How awesome for Paula! She now has a career path and a career taking care of children. We as well as her counselor Jamie Jenkins of the Workforce Center in Round Rock, are proud of Paula’s accomplishment. We will miss seeing her warm and caring smile everyday.

Marlene use to work in manufacturing, but due to the layoffs needed to get into a different industry. She was sponsored by the Workforce Solutions in Round Rock, TX. It seems like yesterday was her 1st day of class.

Marlene worked hard and was an example in the classroom for the other students in a very short amount of time. Her GPA was pushing 100, and she was a natural when she was performing her clinical activities.

Marlene was nervous and sometimes doubted her abilities. But her strong will to succeed won out, and she soon secured her OWN externship at Solid Oak Internal Medicine.

The Doctors and staff at Solid Oak Internal Medicine was so impressed with her knowledge and skill she acquired at The Learning Pad, that after her externship was up, they extended to her full time employment, and she started on, Aug. 8, 2011.

The staff and her instructors at The Learning Pad, as well as her counselor, Jamie Payne at The Workforce, are very proud of her and her accomplishments.

Keep up the great work and we wish you the best, and will miss seeing you everyday!

It was very apparent we had many “shutter bugs” in our Phlebotomy class in July. Below you can see how hard they worked “hand on” in their final grade by performing a blood draw on a volunteer of theirs.

It can be a little nervous performing a venipuncture in front of the rest of the class, but everyone supported everyone and all did just fine. And PASSED!!

Way to go everyone!!

In June our two instructors, John Maya & Amber Barba, was able to share in the responsibilities in training our phlebotomy students. We had a great group of students that buckled down and studied hard. All has graduated and we are looking forward to them coming back on certification exam day and sitting [AND PASSING] their national phlebotomy certification exam!

Way to go team!!

What a great group of students who participated in the May Phlebotomy Technician Program. We had a wide variety of backgrounds within the class. Some students were nursing students wanting to quickly work within the health field while they were going to school.

Others had backgrounds in other service industries such as the food industry and retail, and were taking this class to expand their resume and employment opportunities.

A few in this class after graduation went on to volunteer at the Central Texas Blood and Tissue Center to expand their resume for employment. And other were able to get on at some of the various laboratories in town such as CPL.

We wish everyone good luck in their endeavors!