Nursing
Compassion
Ann Marie Prendergast has been in
years. Though medical technology
has improved, along with patient care
policies, she noticed a major value
regressing: compassion.
“In the industry we talk about the lack of nurses
but we need to teach more than the technical side,”
Prendergast said.
“We need nurses who care about the whole patient,
and the patient’s family, and about more than a medical
diagnosis.”
In 2018, Prendergast opened the doors of Brevard
Nursing Academy, where she serves as campus director.
Located at 581 R. J. Conlan Boulevard, Suite 106 in
Palm Bay, BNA offers weekday classes that equip firsttime
nurses and provide support for advancement and
recertification exams for those already in the nursing field.
The BNA programs are compact by design, with the
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program taking just 12
months to complete. The Certified Nursing Assistant
(CNA) program takes just five weeks and the CNA
recertification program
takes just five days.
Each class has only 12
students, so time can be
spent working one-onone
on both the technical
and compassion portions
of the curriculum.
“We try to make sure
we aren’t losing sight of
the human side of the
training for this job,”
Prendergast said.
Esther Martin is the
director of education at
BNA and has been in
nursing for 20 years, with
a background in training
her peers. She says that her
role at BNA fills a calling
that she personally feels to
elevate her profession with
more empathy.
“There’s a gap we need
to fill in preparing
nurses. They need
critical thinking abilities,
compassion toward
patients and to really
see patients as people,”
Martin said. “We talk
about compassion a lot —
we teach it, we show it by
example.”
By the time a nurse
completes any of the
BNA programs — even
the shortest ones — they
have been immersed in
this nursing culture of
compassion, Martin says.
“The best part of this
job is the end product,
seeing these well-rounded
professionals go out into
the industry and make it
better,” Martin said.
Chrisy Williams of
Melbourne is currently
an LPN student at BNA
who will complete the
program in March. She
has 15 years of experience
as a CNA and is planning
to work in hospice
care when her LPN is
completed.
“This experience here
has really challenged me
and taught me that even
though I have 15 years
of experience, there is
still so much to learn
about patient care and
compassion,” Williams
said.
Fritzna Lormistois of
Palm Bay is also in the
LPN program and has
worked as a CNA for the
past six years. She plans to
continue on to earn her
RN and BSN after her
March LPN completion.
“I’ve learned that it all
really comes down to
patient care, and not
just the medical side,”
Lormistois said. “It starts
with understanding and
connecting with the
patients.”
EVERYTHING business
WITH
BREVARD NURSING
ACADEMY EMPHASIZES
WHOLE-PATIENT CARE
B Y K A T I E P A R S O N S
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Brevard Nursing Academy
BrevardNursingAcademy.com
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Christina Stuart
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