Fayetteville, Ga. (January 7, 2019) Zebulon resident Makayla Brooks, 18, is very busy. In addition to being a senior at Pike County High School, she is also enrolled in Southern Crescent Technical College’s Pharmacy Technician Program. This sends her to Piedmont Fayette Hospital every afternoon to work in the hospital’s pharmacy. Her ultimate goal is to be a nurse and Brooks believes that what she is learning in class and in the pharmacy will make her a better nurse. Rhonda Manos, director of the pharmacy at Piedmont Fayette, agrees.
“Makayla has knocked it out of the park from the first day she joined us,” Manos said. “Learning about medications is an important part of nursing and this will be a helpful skill for her as she pursues her career. She is focused on her goals and will make an amazing nurse.”
Brooks has a lot of different duties at Piedmont Fayette. She pulls stock for the different floors, loads machines in each department and works on unit dose medications. She also helps organize, clean and make things for efficient for her team. The work skills she is learning this semester will serve her well as she gets a pharmacy technician job while attending nursing school, but the soft skills she is learning will make her a valuable member of any team.
“Being at Piedmont Fayette has been like its own class. Everyone is very friendly and encouraging. I’ve learned a lot from each department,” Brooks said, adding that one highlight was being able to scrub up to handle medications in the operating room.
Piedmont Fayette is committed to building the next generation of healthcare workers.They work with Fayette County high school students enrolled in healthcare classes and have partnerships with different nursing schools and colleges. Last year, the hospital opened a dedicated education unit to give nursing students experience working with patients and studying under nurses who became licensed clinical educators.
“Piedmont Fayette isn’t a teaching hospital, by definition, but we believe that we have a lot that we can teach to students,” said Piedmont Fayette CEO Michael Burnett. “Our goal has always been to encourage the next generation of healthcare workers and hope they return to Piedmont Fayette after graduation.”
Learn more about Piedmont Fayette Hospital at piedmont.org/fayette