Category Archive

Introduction from Don Jones

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to continue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Kurt Albright-June 1, 2012

Well, this will be my last entry from China.  June 7 I head back to the US.  It will be nice to see folks back home, but I am not sure I am ready to leave Shanghai.  Tonight I went to visit the family I tutored last year.  The kids are doing great.  I played Scrabble with the younger boy, then went with the family to meet the older boy for dinner.  It has been a year since I have seen them, but it feels like it was just last week.  Tomorrow I will see Kasumi for the last time, then go to my classmates home for a goodbye party.  Her roommate is moving to the US.  Next week is a graduation ceremony for the nursing program.  What a ride.  Still so much to do.  One last bike ride with Aaron to some island in the northeast part of Shanghai, two more tests and one last meal with the American teachers. Afterward it’s home to an expired drivers license, no job, and a national exam.  It’s all good.  See you guys in about 10 days.

Kurt

Introduction from Don Jones

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to continue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Kurt Albright-April 23, 2012

I am still here, and will be until at least June 7th.  I was supposed to return home this Friday, but that has changed. as have my plans for May and June.   My sister arrived at the beginning of the month.  She was here for a couple of weeks and we did some traveling together.  This weekend I will load the pictures on the computer.  Next week I will tell you a little about or travels and share a few pictures.  The highlight for me had to be a speed boat ride through some narrow, serpentine channels in Beijing.  It felt like a chase seen out of a movie.  Unfortunately my camera battery died before the ride so I have no video–man I’m cryin’.

The school started a prep class for the nclex.  I missed a couple of weeks do to my sisters visit, but I am getting caught up.  She had her plane tickets before the class was put in place so we weren’t about to cancel the trip.  

I don’t really have much to say today. There’s a shock.  Hope everyone is well.

Kurt

Introduction from Don Jones

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to continue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefitting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Don Jones

President/CEO

Kurt Albright’s 13th Blog-January 16, 2012

I hope everyone had a good holiday.  Mine was good, but I am having some health issues.  Tuesday I go to the doctor.  

I finished my tour of duty on the OB/GYN floor.  It turned out to be a very positive experience.  Babies are really cute when their garden hoses aren’t going off everywhere.  Two mornings were spent in the bathing room, where the infants are weighed, bathed and changed.  3 or 4 infants can be taken in at one time.  That is a lot of crying in a small space.   Now my teammate and I are on the med/surge floor.  It is awesome for a number of reasons.  The head nurse likes to teach and lets the students do quite a bit of the patient care.  A number of my classmates are on the floor, and there are three male nurses.  One of the nurses is a guy named Ivar, a non-traditional nursing student from Norway.  Ivar is in one of the attached pictures (along with his very traditional Norwegian food).  He is a short-term exchange student and my next door neighbor at the school. 

Life is getting exciting.  I have 9 weeks left, and it has been a treat to watch my classmates grow up.  They are not little kids anymore:  they are my teachers. I wish I had carried a journal with me, instead of trying to remember events a day later, or a week later.  There are lots of details that I have missed.  My language skills are still really bad.  I am trying to learn to write since my pronunciation is sometimes not so hot.  It has been good here.  Mr Wang, who runs the program like a true dictator, has been absolutely wonderful.  The American teachers have one of his quotes hanging in the kitchen: “Our job is to scare the students, scare them really bad”.  He does his job very well, but he has been very gracious to me.  It has been good here, an experience I would not to want to have missed.  But I can tell it is also time to come home.  I am feeling a little nostalgic.  In part because I just turned 50, I am sick, very tired, and there are still lots of aspects I will miss about this place (but not pickled fish guts served chilled).  This is my fourth time in China, so I guess I find something appealing about being here.  Every time I leave I figure it is my last time.  It isn’t really like leaving an old friend.  Friends you know pretty intimately, and the best I can say is I still don’t really know this country. 

Kurt Albright’s 14th Blog-January 24th, 2012

I am still not 100%.  Just finished my antibiotics.  This week there is no practice.  It is the Chinese new year festival.  Most students are off for a month.  Those now doing their hopsital practice are off for a week.  It came at a very good time.  I have done very little but sleep and watch Harry Potter.

Ivar, The student from Norway, is starting to learn his way around our part of the city.  By the end of his first week he was getting us to the hospital in the morning and back to the school in the evening.  I won’t have to worry about him when I go back to the apartment next week

Both of my roommates are out of town.  I am hoping we don’t lose Patty (the South Korean).  Her company is transferring a number of people back to South Korea, Vietnam, or Indonessia.  She will quit and go to work for a church in Thailand before she is transferred.  Her Chinese is excellent so I am hoping she will be staying in Shanghai.  She feels like this is her home.

The 12th floor at the hospital has been a good experience.  Last week I did not do any patient care due to illness, but there will be plenty of opportunities to do IV’s, blood draws,  allergy tests for penicillin, and EKG’s in the future.

I am still tutoring on Friday nights.  The girl I tutor on Saturday’s is now back in Japan for the holidays.  She was teaching at our school last year, but now has a job at another school (teaching Japanese).  I will  miss her and my roommates when I leave China.  The hardest part of a new experience never seems to be adjusting, which is tough.  It  just seems saying goodbye is tougher.

Kurt

On a cold December Saturday, ATA Practical Nursing Students gathered for what would be a very important day in their lives.

In a room full of loved ones

They were finally “pinned” by the faculty and staff that has so much been a part of their educational journey.

The months of dedication to class time. The hours of studying. The sacrifice of time away from their families and friends. 

It’s time for them to enter into the Profession of Nursing.

One chapter has closed, but the most important chapter is opening.

——————————————————-

“A Nurse’s Prayer”

Give to my eyes, light to see those in need.

Give to my heart, compassion and understanding.

Give to my mind, knowledge and wisdom.

Give to my hands, skills and tenderness.

Give to my ears, the ability to listen.

Give to my lips, words to comfort.

Give to my spirit, the desire to share.

Give to me Lord, strength for this selfless service and enable me to bring joy to the lives of those I serve.

-Author Unknown. 

Best Wishes to our Nursing Students. We cannot wait to hear about the great things you are going to achieve.

Introduction from Don Jones:

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to continue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Don Jones

CEO

Kurt Albright-December 18th, 2011

Children’s Hospital

Introduction from Don Jones:

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to continue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Don Jones

CEO

Kurt Albright-December 12, 2011

A couple of weeks ago I made my acting debut.  I was a patient on the VIP floor of the hospital.  They were taking photos for some type of hospital promotion. I am not exactly photogenic, but I had fun.

I finished my ER rotation by spending the last hour in the IV infusion room putting in IV’s.  The ER was eventful again this week.  People dying, arguments over bills, fist fights in the lobby.  I think I saw this episode on TV.

Next week I go to the children’s hospital.  My expectations are kind of low.  Parents will be protective and I am likely to scare some of the kids. It will be interesting to watch the interactions between family, patients and staff.  In the US the hospital will consider the developmental stages of the children and try to keep them on track for meeting milestones and needs.  I don’t know if that is the case in China.

This weekend there was a lunar eclipse.  I guess it started around 9:00pm. The moon was completely obscured by 10:00pm  The students from Tibet were banging on pans and screaming during the eclipse.  We think they were trying to scare away evil spirits.  I don’t think they scared anything away but sleep.  I put in a few pictures of the eclipse and a picture of my roommates and the father of one of the girls.  He was in Shanghai for a few days doing business and made us dinner a couple of nights.  Our Korean roommate made us sushi-mi.

Kurt 

Kurt and friends

Introduction from Don Jones:

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to continue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Don Jones

CEO

Kurt Albright-December 4, 2001

Introduction from Don Jones:

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to continue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Don Jones

CEO

Kurt Albright-8th Blog November 20th 2011

Two weeks ago Aaron, a teacher at the school in Shanghai’ and I took a 7 hour bike trip.  We were not planning on a 7 hour bike trip, but that”s what it took.  We rode to another city outside of Shanghai that we did not know even existed until we arrived, Then we got lost on the way home.  I can not tell you the name of the town, but it was a lot of fun.  There were narrow streets with a couple of cool city gates and tons of small markets,  About the time we decided to try to find our way back to the school two things happened: we ran into one of Aaron’s students and it started to rain hard.  We should not have been surprised because it had misted off and on all day.  Aaron’s student gave us directions to a temple that was near by, so we figured we would stop to see it on the way home.  When we got to the temple the large wooden doors at the entrance were open and the inside looked really cool (and dry).  We got off our bikes, and while Aaron was locking up his bike and pulling out his camera, the monks shut the doors.  Aaron has a lovely picture of the exterior of two wooden doors.  All we could was laugh:  it was pouring down rain and the monks had  just shut the doors on us.  The entire ride home it rained.  Aaron wanted to try to takes our bikes on to a bus and ride the bus home.  By the time we got back to the school it was pitch black and we were soaked.  My shoes sat for two days near a heat source before they were dry enough to wear.  We were so disoriented at times we had to do more back-tracking than a politician.   It was great.  We laughed so much on the way home that I had cramps.

Introduction from Don Jones:

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to co

ntinue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Don Jones

CEO

Duck feet

Kurt Albright-November 13, 2011

Duck Feet Anyone?

Introduction from Don Jones:

Kurt is a graduate of ATA College’s Practical Nursing Program. He is now completing an RN bridge program at the Shanghai Institute of Health Science (SIHS) in Shanghai, China. This is his second full year in China and he is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012. ATA College originally signed an affiliation agreement with this college in the summer of 2010. The agreement allows for graduates of our Practical Nursing program to co

ntinue their education abroad in China. Eventually, ATA College hopes to offer an RN bridge program here in Louisville or at our college in Florida. Once we are approved to offer an RN program at either location, we can then enroll Chinese students that wish to study abroad in the United States. We are very excited about this mutually benefiting arrangement. The Chinese people and government place great value on quality education. This affiliation agreement once again affirms that ATA College is a quality organization that places student achievement and career success at the forefront.

Don Jones

CEO

The picture of the Shanghai skyline is the view I see about every night.

Kurt Albright’s 6th Blog from China

November 3rd 2011

The small alley is filled with shops and restaurants

Casa 13 (pretty good Italian food). The lady is a friend of the other American student that was here last year. The three of us went to Casa 13 and then hit a coffee house to hear a little live music.