Citizen Centennial 9-27-2013
Centennial
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 45
September 27, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourcentennialnews.com
Chamber working to ‘Fix the Debt’ South Metro group taking lead role in grassroots movement By George Lurie
glurie@ourcoloradonews.com
SEEMS LIKE SUMMER
The Gallo sisters, Rosetta,6, right, and Luciana, 4, of Parker, enjoy the third official day of fall Sept. 24 at Centennial Center Park. “We came over here all summer just for the park,” said their mom, Vanessa Gallo. “Parker really doesn’t have anything like it.” Photo by George Lurie
Nursing assistant school a big success Centennial facility, launched in 2009, has trained hundreds of health-care providers By George Lurie
glurie@ourcoloradonews.com You’re never too old to start a new business. Just ask Bernadette Billinger, who took the entrepreneurial leap at age 63. When Billinger, a nurse and former health care administrator, and her partner Lindsay Mulder started the South Denver School of Nursing Arts in Centennial in 2009, they did not expect that in less than four years, their school would be known as one of the best nursing assistant training facilities in the south metro area. Since opening less than four years ago, more than 500 students have graduated from the school. Billinger, who has both an MBA and MSHA (master of science and health administration), serves as the school’s program coordinator, while the much younger Mulder, who is in her mid-30s and currently working on her own master’s degree, serves as the school’s primary instructor. Both Billinger and Mulder worked as RNs and Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) instructors at other training facilities before starting the school. “There was nothing like this in the southeast metro area and Lindsay and I saw an opportunity,” says Billinger. “I was teaching at the time and wanted to be more in control of my life. As I got older, coming in and punching a time clock just didn’t suit me anymore. But this does.” Located in a suite on the third floor of an office building on Arapahoe Road just west of Interstate 25, class sizes at the school are limited to 10 students per session. “There’s no standing around or waiting to practice skills,” says Billinger. “Our instructors are always right there beside the students.” Courses last approximately five weeks,
Bernadette Billinger, co-owner of South Denver School of Nursing Arts demonstrates the proper technique for cleaning a patient’s dentures. Photo by George Lurie after which students take a two-part, written and skills-demonstration state exam. “They take the test right here at the school and find out if they pass the same day,” Billinger explains. Once licensed, Billinger says, CNAs provide personal care (bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting) to patients in settings that include hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices and private homes. The complete cost of the CNA course at South Denver School of Nursing Arts, including exam and licensing fees, is $1,500. The tuition, Billinger says, “is all-inclusive. I hate to be nickel-and-dimed, so Lindsay and I decided to bundle everything into one price.” In addition to passing the state exam, Billinger says would-be CNAs must also pass a background check and drug screen
in order to be licensed to work in a clinical setting. The highly marketable occupation, Billinger adds, can serve as a prerequisite for acceptance into associate or bachelor degree nursing programs and also fulfills the direct patient-care hours required for admittance into other medical programs, such as radiology or medical school. The pay scale for nursing aides ranges from $12-$15 an hour, and Billinger says in recent years graduates have had no problems finding jobs because of “constantly growing” demand in this health-care field. The next sessions of both daytime and night classes start the first week of October. For more information about the program or to enroll, call 303-945-4203 or go to www.southdenverschoolofnursingarts. com.
Labeling it a top priority, the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce continues to lead the charge locally to promote the “Fix the Debt” campaign. “I believe this is the most important issue facing the United States right now,” says Rick Whipple, a Littleton CPA and chairman-elect of the chamber. Together with chamber president and CEO John Brackney, Whipple has taken a leading role in urging a bipartisan, grassroots effort to resolve what he describes as “the nation’s ongoing debt crisis.” “The full faith and cred- Whipple it of the United States is at risk, likewise our form of government and way of life,” says Whipple. “I find it outrageous that the strongest economy on the earth cannot solve this crisis. This is key to our long-term growth and funding our social programs, infrastructure, education, military, foreign policy — you name it. The longer we wait for debt reform, the more likely our future will be determined by our creditors.” Whipple has been actively involved in the Colorado chapter of the Fix the Debt campaign since late 2012 and says it remains one of the chamber’s “highest priorities.” In July, Whipple traveled to Washington with Brackney to lobby members of Colorado’s congressional delegation on the importance of addressing the debt crisis. In mid-September, Whipple went to the nation’s capital again, this time with a contingent of high-powered business leaders, including Dave Cote, the chairman and CEO of Honeywell. “Our mission was to show a united front of small business owners and large business,” Whipple says. “Dave Cote talked about how the growth of Honeywell has been constrained by the government’s failures to pass a budget.” “Large companies like Honeywell are accumulating cash because they see the government debt as a risk to their own stability,” Whipple explains. “These companies have to protect against the next bubble or recession, so they are not taking the risks that they would normally take to expand their businesses. And when these big companies sit on their cash, it constrains the entire economy,” stifling job creation, reinvestment, the growth of small business and the collection of additional taxes. When meeting with politicians in Washington, Whipple said most “took a party-line position. It was evident there is a deep cultural divide between our legislators.” He said the group found stronger Debt continues on Page 7
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