Health care training institute opens in downtown Wilmington
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) —A new school officially opened its doors in downtown Wilmington on Thursday, December 15.
Its goal is to providing an accessible path for students entering the healthcare profession.
The Sankofa Training & Wellness Institute is located on the sixth floor of the Murchison Building on North Front Street in Downtown Wilmington, and it hopes to address the increasing need for nurses.
The Sankofa Training & Wellness institute is led by Suprena Hickman, a registered nurse and nurse educator. She says the school is focused on attracting, educating, and training visible minorities, to improve diversity in the healthcare field.
“Expect to see more quality trained health care professionals coming in, who are self-care focused, because we’re focusing on a holistic approach there, with every student that comes in. we’re teaching them about self-care, we’re teaching them personal development training, and then we’re also teaching them the core skills that they need to be able to effectively care for a patient,” said Suprena Hickman, Sankofa Training & Wellness Institute owner & administrator.
Wilmington City Councilman Kevin Spears praises Hickman for opening the institute to help address the nursing crisis, and diversity in health care.
“You have to address that elephant in the room with action, and this is a prime example of putting words to action,” said Kevin Spears, Wilmington City Councilman.
The institute will run two 19-day sessions over a six-week period for CNA certification, and will graduate up to 20 CNA’s at the end of each session.
It will also offer CPR and first aid training programs, and Integrative Health/Life Coaching certifications.
“Infection control’s going to be one of the major things, to help prevent a pandemic, which is what –covid, influenza, anything viral could cause,” said Dachia Thompson, nursing consultant.
“It will be an adventure. It will be challenging. We probably will have people who really don’t know that much about it, so as an instructor I want to make it comfortable, and easy, but –yet let them know understand what you’re learning, that way you can apply it in the future,” said Sandra M. Robinson, Sankofa Training & Wellness Institute instructor.
Sankofa’s program has earned the NC Community College System’s certification for Health & Wellness Programming. Nursing schools throughout the state are now requiring a CNA for admission to their programs.
