Schools

Pelham Resident Graduating from White Plains Hospital Program

A student from Pelham will be graduating at the White Plains Hospital Friday.

Sarah DeLeno, who attended New York University, will be graduating from the Richard P. Biondi Nurse Apprenticeship Program.

There will be 22 total students graduating from the program, a seven-week summer apprenticeship that was started eight years ago to "address the drastic nursing shortage in the country by giving nursing students a head start to their careers," according to a White Plains Hospital news release.

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The ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the White Plains Hospital Auditorium, located at 41 E. Post Road.

The hospital has hired a total of 61 past graduates from the program, and Annie Norris, a program counselor, said the trend will likely continue among the newest graduates.

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“Since these students are already in our pipeline, they are the first individuals we look to hire,” Norris said in a released statement. “The nurse managers and staff get to know their work ethic, ambition and initiatives, as well as their organizational and priority setting skills during the summer.”

During the program, students worked in many clinical areas such as pediatrics, the emergency department, post-anesthesia care unit, intensive care unit step-down, labor and delivery and oncology. Students also did tasks such as answering call bells, taking vital signs and assisting patients with meals, according to the release.

Monica Purdy, the nursing liaison for students, said one of the best parts of the program is seeing the students graduate.

"One of the greatest rewards of working with these aspiring nurses each summer is that we get to see them grow and in more cases than none,  we end up seeing them working the floors of White Plains Hospital as registered nurses,” Purdy said in a released statement. “It is a wonderful feeling to watch them grow as they pursue their careers.”


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