Ex-auto workers get a new start

[cougarnurse]

I knew this would happen. I wish them luck, too! Nursing offers ex-autoworkers a new start | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Kenneth Kidd, Veronica Williams and Angela Davis doubt they ever will get a layoff notice again.

All three are part of a 52-person class in a unique, two-year Oakland University/Henry Ford Health System nursing program for displaced autoworkers.

For now, the program is a one-time opportunity.

"I don't think anyone anticipated the auto companies would have so many more layoffs" when the program was designed three years ago, said Mary Kravutske, interim administrator for nursing development and research at Henry Ford.

"If it works and if we are very successful, we'll look at having" another program, she said.

Waiting lists exist for all of the state's nursing programs, said Carole Stacy, director of the Michigan Center for Nursing, part of the Michigan Health Council, a nonprofit health care jobs agency. The waits are due to lack of PhD-trained faculty, classrooms and hospital training spots for clinical rotations.

Still, once in, nursing school graduates have their pick of positions, particularly in highly specialized areas.

"We've never heard a student say, 'I've got my degree, now what do I do with that?' " said Jim McFarlin, spokesman for the Wayne State University School of Nursing.

WSU accepted 96 students among thousands of applicants last year for this fall's two programs for people with and without bachelor's degrees.

Kidd, 42, of Ypsilanti says he believes nursing will provide stability and an example to his four children of why it's important to go to school.

He worked 10 1/2 years doing a variety of assembly-line jobs at Ford Motor Co. plants in Wayne and Novi before taking a buyout in 2007.

"I want them to look at me, raising a family, supporting them, going to school, as an example of the not-to-go-that-route," Kidd said. He dropped out of college and entered the military because he says he "would rather work than go to class."

Pregnancies interrupted the dreams of Williams and Davis, both Chrysler LLC assembly-line workers who took buyouts in 2007.

"I had to do what was right for me and my daughter," said Williams, 39, of Auburn Hills.

Kidd, Williams and Davis had to take at least a year of prerequisite science classes to get into the nursing program.

Kidd took organic chemistry twice before passing. "I had to challenge myself, but I did it."

He works in a rehabilitation facility to help support his family and took out loans to pay for his education. He also supported his wife through her nursing training at Wayne County Community College.

All three students say nursing is a viable option for any autoworker who commits himself or herself to the work.

"I always tell people, 'You have to have a plan,' " said Davis, 36, a mother of three from Detroit. "This was a big adjustment, and it still is."

She tells her autoworker friends: "It's not too late for you."

Williams said too many people are afraid to take on the challenge. "But if you are committed, you can do this."

"People need to know there's life after the plant," Williams said. "I know I'll be secure in nursing."