By THOMAS BREEN | New Haven Independent
Jonysah Bouknight was finishing up giving one patient a “bed bath” when she heard a loud noise — and quickly learned that another patient was having a stroke.
She took a deep breath, collected herself, and jumped into action, making sure the patients got the care they needed without letting the stress of her job completely overwhelm her.
Bouknight is a patient care associate at Yale New Haven Health’s Smilow Cancer Hospital.
She told the Independent that story about an urgent “STAT” order she responded to during a recent hospital shift — and about the way that her training as a registered apprentice at Yale New Haven Hospital helped her succeed in that moment — after a press conference and roundtable conversation held on Friday midday at 55 Park St.
The reason for the press event was to celebrate and check in on a four-year, $10 million federal grant that the state Department of Labor awarded to Yale New Haven Hospital last year to build up its so-called “Registered Apprenticeship” program for patient care technicians.
Patient care techs work under nurses and doctors to do everything from checking patients’ vital signs to taking blood draws to making sure patients don’t fall while they’re at the hospital to cleaning wounds and managing pain.