A Metro Life Flight helicopter landed on the Kent State Esplanade extension Tuesday afternoon, in an initiative the College of Nursing hoped would attract the attention of potential students for a new clinical program.

“(The clinical program) gives (the students) a first-hand experience not only to see the broader picture of acute care nurse practitioner roles but also specific to trauma and the Life Flight opportunities you would see in very unfortunate disasters,” said Gail Bromley, the associate dean for academics at the College of Nursing.

Metro Life Flight has been working with the college of nursing for about a year.

“When you’re working with a health care agency, a clinical agency, not only do we want to make sure that certain clinical experiences are there, but we want to look at competencies,” Bromley said. “We don’t want to just say ‘oh, observe, shadow;’ we want there to be very specific competencies that a nursing student would develop.”

The College of Nursing aims to provide students with invaluable knowledge, the opportunity to work with a reputable county hospital and gain first-hand experience.

“They could be taking care of us someday,” said Louann Bailey, an instructor in the College of Nursing. “I think this relationship between Metro Life Flight, Kent State and the care program provides us with the opportunity to help do excellent training for our future providers that may be on that helicopter.”

Through the clinical program, students have access to Metro Life Flight’s many resources. The goal is to allow students to have access to the medical program’s simulation lab, training and burn unit.

“The students would be exposed to very complex patients,” Bromley said. “You really want (the students) to be challenged.”

Graduate nursing student Katherine Henkels expressed her excitement to be involved in the program.

“(Metro Life Flight) is so amazing at what they do, and to have the opportunity to work so closely with them while I’m in school…I just feel like

I couldn’t be better prepared,” Henkels said.

Contact Samantha Tuly at [email protected].