How Do I Take CNA Classes and Get My License Around Poteau?

Kiamichi Tech's Poteau and Spiro campuses offer a Long-Term Care Nurse Aide course plus American Heart Association BLS CPR certification for people seeking CNA certification through the Oklahoma State Department of Health Nurse Aide Registry. Students take it through the FLEX program at the Spiro campus, 610 SW 3rd St, Monday through Thursday, 8 AM to 2:30 PM. You must be at least 16; students under 18 need a guardian to sign a form.

The total is $880: $665 tuition, $87 book fee, $75 testing fee, $43.50 supplies and $9.50 fees. If you already have a current CPR card, the $80 CPR charge comes off your bill. You need full payment or a funding letter plus a completed registration packet to finish enrolling.

Bring a driver's license or photo ID, your Social Security card (the names must match), a negative TB test, and your CPR card if you have one. Students wear plain navy blue scrubs and closed-toe shoes, and you need your own ride to class and to the clinical site. A felony record does not automatically keep you out, but it gets a review, so talk with the coordinator first if that applies to you.

Kiamichi Tech lists these funding sources for short-term classes. Choctaw Nation Career Development for LeFlore and Latimer counties: (918) 448-7508 or (918) 448-4808. Oklahoma Workforce in LeFlore County: (918) 647-5599. Vocational Rehabilitation: (918) 647-8121. Chickasaw Nation Higher Education: (580) 421-7711. Cherokee Nation Career Services: (918) 776-0416.

The Steps to Success Scholarship pays tuition for students who graduated from a LeFlore County high school or home school, or earned a GED or HiSET, in the last two years. Some employers also pay for the class, and you can choose employer pay on the application.

Nurse aide training has to be at least 75 hours, including at least 16 hours of supervised hands-on practice. After the class you take the state competency exam, which has a written test and a skills test where you show tasks like hand washing, transfers and taking vital signs. The $75 test fee is included in Kiamichi Tech's price.

Once you pass, you are listed on the Oklahoma State Department of Health Nurse Aide Registry as a Certified Nurse Aide in Long-Term Care, and you can work in nursing homes. Employers look you up on the registry, so there is no separate card to frame. Keep your registry listing renewed with the Health Department.

Want to go further? Kiamichi Tech also has Certified Medication Aide and Home Health Aide classes, and its Poteau campus has a full-time Practical Nursing program. Ask the same office at 918-647-4525.