Terri Blevins, director of the Practical Nursing program at Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton and president-elect of the Tennessee Center for Nursing, has been named a Health Care Hero by the Business Journal of the Tri-Cities and King and Monarch Pharmaceutical Companies.
Ellen Myatt, publisher of the Business Journal of the Tri-Cities, and Susan Duncan, communications coordinator in the King Pharmaceutical Company Public Relations Department, presented the award to Ms. Blevins in recognition of her accomplishments in the health care profession.
Ms. Blevins became director of the nursing program at TTC-Elizabethton in 1985 after serving as charge nurse at Carter County Memorial Hospital from 1982 to 1985. A 1982 graduate of East Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing, Ms. Blevins obtained a Master of Science degree in technical and adult education from the University of Tennessee in 1990.
At the State Area Vocational-Technical School at Elizabethton, the forerunner of TTC-Elizabethton, Ms. Blevins was responsible for designing the nursing program curriculum and making arrangements with area hospitals, nursing homes and doctor's offices for students to receive clinical experiences.
Ms. Blevins and Patricia Roark, RN, director of the online Dietary Manager Training, Certified Nurse Assistant and Technology Foundations programs at TTC-Elizabethton, were the initial nursing faculty. There are nine full-time nursing faculty today. There were 20 students enrolled in the first nursing class. Today, more than 357 students are accepted to the nursing program each year after passing the Nursing Entrance Test required of the State Board of Nursing.
Within the past four years, there have been 400 graduates of the nursing program at TTC-Elizabethton. Many entered the workforce while others transferred to ETSU or a community college. The new ETSU Nurse Center on TTC's campus, 1500 Arney Street, assists students who desire to transfer to ETSU's Registered Nurse program.
The 12-month practical nursing program at TTC-Elizabethton prepares graduates for the Tennessee Board of Nursing exam to become Licensed Practical Nurses. The program serves students and health care providers in Carter, Johnson, Unicoi, Washington and Sullivan counties. Currently, the job placement rate for TTC-Elizabethton nursing graduates is 100 percent, Blevins said.
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