Staff Writer

Nursing has opened a world of opportunity for Dorothy Seal, taking her on a career path she never would have imagined.

From starting out as a medical/surgical nurse, she’s worked in ICU and home health care, as a nursing home administrator, staff development director and in various roles for health insurance groups. This was all before she fell in love with nursing education.

As instructional dean of Health Occupations at Denver’s Emily Griffith Opportunity School (EGOS), Seal is now sharing her lifetime of nursing knowledge to open new doors for nursing students.

"Nursing has taken me in a direction I never thought it would," said Seal, RN, BS, MEd. "There are so many areas that nursing can get you into."

Emily Griffith’s nursing programs have been helping nurses get their start for at least 40 years. Today, the school offers two nursing programs for students: LPN and CNA.

The LPN path is a 10-month program that occurs from September to July and is approved by the Colorado Board of Nursing. It meets the common course numbering system, allowing for credit transfer to the community college system. This enables LPN grads to enter community colleges as second-year students, often reducing the wait time to get into an RN program, Seal said.

The LPN program takes 25 students once a year, and the program is full for September 2010. The school is taking applications for September 2011. LPNs are prepared for positions in nursing homes, home health care, assisted-living facilities and acute-care clinics. Seal said the LPN students are well-prepared for the work force, with EGOS boasting a 95 percent to 98 percent pass rate on nursing certification exams.

"We get a lot of feedback in the community that our students are prepared," Seal said. "When they get out and get a job, they realize the advantage that they have."

The CNA program (also approved by the Colorado Board of Nursing) specializes in preparing students for positions at inpatient long-term care facilities and home health care. EGOS offers an 88-hour program, which takes anywhere from four to 10 weeks to complete, as well as a 168-hour extended program for students that need more time. Tuition for the 68-hour program costs about $400, while the extended version costs about $700.

One advantage EGOS has over other nursing schools is its affordable cost, Seal said. Tuition for the LPN program costs about $6,700, much less than at other schools. No matter what program students choose, Seal is convinced Emily Griffith will give them a great entry into the health care industry. Whether someone aspires to work in insurance or pharmaceutical sales, or advance to nurse practitioner or doctor, the opportunities are endless, Seal said.

"There are so many directions if you don’t just want to do nursing," she said. "It’s an incredible way to go. There’s something for everybody."

Despite the career possibilities, Seal said nursing is not an easy profession and it requires a desire deep within to help others.

"It’s a hard profession. You have to be very on top of things and have care in your heart and mind to be able to do it," she said.

Seal was exposed to the health care setting in her childhood due to her mother’s health, and the experiences led her to pursue nursing later in life.

"My mom had some health issues and because of her being involved with doctors and hospitals, I felt this need to be involved with people in their health and helping them," Seal said. "I enjoyed learning about medicine, nursing and how I could be a part of it to help people understand what they were going through."

Seal earned her RN in 1973 from Holy Cross Hospital School of Nursing, a three-year diploma program in Salt Lake City, Utah. From there she moved to Denver and worked at Presbyterian St. Luke’s and Mercy hospitals. Her nursing career took a new direction when she moved to New Jersey and worked as a visiting nurse for four years. She then worked as staff development coordinator at Princeton Medical Center.

After returning to Denver, Seal was a nursing home administrator for two years before she went to work for insurance companies as a quality assurance nurse and discharge planner. That work led her to a position with a physicians group in the same capacity.

From 1990 to 2000, Seal taught part-time in the CNA program at Emily Griffith before becoming the school’s dean in 2000.

In between her various positions, Seal earned her bachelor’s degree in Health Care Management in 1984 from Metropolitan State College of Denver. She went on to get her master’s in education in 2005 from Jones International University. Seal said she chose to work mainly outside of the hospital setting because she enjoyed the educational aspect of outpatient care. Perhaps that’s why she loved teaching nurse aides.

"They are often the first line between a patient and what’s going on, and they sometimes are the unsung heroes," Seal said, adding that CNAs are often the first contact patients and families have at nursing homes. "They have to be very special people to be able to handle that."

For more information about the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, go to the school’s website at www.egos-school.com