PA College Magazine - Spring 2021 - 10

PA COLLEGE / FEATURE

" Hooked " on Teaching
JOSEPH W. NICHOLS,
BSN, RN '96, CPAN,
Director, Clinical
Education, Life Support
Training Center
Coordinator

Lighting Up Moments
LYNNE DOMMEL,
MSN, RN '86,
Coordinator, Simulation
Education
Lynne Dommel decided
to become a nurse
when she was 5 and saw how lovingly
nurses cared for her grandmother. She
became even more enamored when, in
the sixth grade, nurses shepherded her
through having a brain tumor removed.
Born in Lancaster, she went straight
from high school to the (then) Lancaster
General Hospital School of Nursing
where her favorite teacher was (now Dean)
Cheryl Grab. " She was so welcoming, so
encouraging, and just as excited about
your progress as you were. "
A staff nurse for 22 years, Dommel
eventually earned a master's in nursing
education and became a nurse educator
at the hospital before joining the PA
College faculty. As coordinator of
simulation learning, she helps faculty
members create sophisticated teaching
scenarios, using manikins that can be
programmed in exquisite detail to exhibit
symptoms and respond to treatment.
" Nurses are teachers, " she says. " I loved
teaching my patients, and I love seeing
my students light up when they learn
something new. "

10

PACOLLEGE.EDU

Watching Students
Blossom
CHERYL GRAB, EdD,
RN '77, Dean, Division
of Nursing
Cheryl Grab always
wanted to be a
teacher, but there
was a glut of teachers in the 1970s and
her mother suggested nursing. " 'You can
teach your patients,' she told me, and
she was right, " Grab says. " Every aspect
of nursing is about teaching. "
Grab, who juggled earning multiple
degrees with nursing, teaching and
raising children, says she can't think
of a more rewarding profession than
nursing education. " You can still be
a practitioner, but you also get to see
students blossom. "
She says the landscape of nursing
education has changed dramatically
since she attended the (then) Lancaster
General Hospital School of Nursing.
" Most of my classmates were right out
of high school. Now our students are
in their mid-20s to 30s, come from more
diverse backgrounds, and many more
are male. Technology has become an
important component of our curriculum. "
Yet the emphasis is the same, she says-
teaching safe and high-quality patient
care.

Joe Nichols admired his mother's work
as a nurse, so he joined the Army as a
medical specialist. " I liked the idea of
working with people and always learning, "
he says. By the time he left the Army,
he'd earned a bachelor's degree from
the (then) Lancaster General Hospital
School of Nursing, been promoted to
first lieutenant, and embarked on a
full-time nursing career.
" My first love has always been the ER,
just the challenge and variety of it. " But
a friend got him interested in nursing
education and, " I just got hooked. " 	
When he was a student, " it was six
classrooms and a skills lab. Now our
building is huge and we offer all the
college-level classes you used to have
to take at Millersville. Our sim labs are
state of the art. "
He says he loves sharing what he knows.
" The big thing I tell students is don't be
afraid to make mistakes when you are
practicing skills, and always ask questions
if you are unsure. "

Saving Lives	
BREANNA GRUVER, BS
'17, RCIS '06, Program
Director, Cardiovascular
Technology
" I have the best job, "
says Breanna Gruver,
" but it's challenging getting the word out
because most people don't know about us. "
Cardiovascular technologists are part
plumber, part electrician, she says. " We
go into the heart and look for blockages.
If there is a blockage we open it up,
restore blood flow, and save the patient.
http://www.PACOLLEGE.EDU
PA College Magazine - Spring 2021

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