If one of your relatives ever ends up in a nursing home, they’ll be in good hands if they have a nurse like, Alethea Saafir. “I just love taking care of patients,” says Alethea, who has a special concern for the elderly. After 18 years as a state-tested nurse’s assistant, she decided that furthering her education would be the best way to continue in the profession she loves. “A good nurse is a caring nurse,” says Alethea Saafir who earned a Diploma in Practical Nursing from Brown Mackie College – Akron in 2009. “At  another college, the program  might have taken 15 months. My diploma from Brown Mackie College – Akron took less than a year.”

“I truly like the fact that you don’t have to take an entrance exam to enroll at the school,” she said. You take one course a month; you pass that course, and then move on to the next course.  It’s a fast paced environment.”

The education and training she received at Brown Mackie College – Akron has really paid off in her job as a Charge Nurse at Cityview Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Cleveland, Ohio.  Nursing students at Brown Mackie – Akron immediately began reading the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) book,” she said. “It’s important to be your own educator and seek the advice and support of instructors. All of my instructors were realistic and positive, especially Ms. Shade, Ms. Mallet, Ms. Hamilton, and Ms. Demuth.”

Alethea encourages future nursing students to make the nursing licensure process a priority. “Dive into that nursing book,” she says. “It will keep you from getting frustrated in the end.”