Brookhaven Courier

Issue date: 4/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Chris Vivero Norma Broussard sets up an IV bag for mock patient in classroom.

After many years of working in the medical industry, Brookhaven College student Norma Broussard returned to college in hopes of completing a nursing degree. This semester marked her first as a nursing student after being officially accepted during the Fall 2006 semester.

Why did you decide to attend Brookhaven College?
I currently live in Mesquite. I was looking at demographics in terms of nursing programs such as what was close to me and would also offer a quality education.
I knew early on I wanted to do a two-year RN [Registered Nurse] program versus a four-year RN program. I took some courses here and at some other community colleges and I felt more compassion, unity and understanding among the professors here.

Why did you decide to study nursing?
I am a returning student. Initially I wanted to become an international business major. Although, I had received 81 out of 120 credits to graduate, I chose to get married and start a family so I did not finish my initial degree.
In the meantime, medicine was providing me with a living as a medical assistant. I was a radiologist's assistant and I realized I was given a lot of credit by patients and other medical staff as to my competency, which helped inspire me to say I can do better and be better and it's not too late.
One thing I learned through this process of working with patients already and having started my classes was there are two beautiful things in life that I believe in. One is being present for the birth of a child and the other is to hold the hand of someone who is dying.
I don't mean you have to be there and hear their last breath. I mean to help them in their passage. No matter how bad, bitter or lonely that person may have been in their life. I believe everyone deserves to go with some dignity and I believe I have the compassion to show someone a little light toward the end of their days.

How does the nursing program work?
There are prerequisites and they are mandatory and there are a number of support classes, which is unlike most other colleges. Many other colleges just require support classes and then you take a nursing entrance exam and from there they rank you based on your GPA.
At this school it's not ranking based on your GPA it's ranking based on a point system. You get points based on your GPA for the four prerequisites and then you get points based on the additional support classes you take. If you complete those in advance prior to applying to nursing you get points, which puts you higher on the scale.

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