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Delicia Lewis is already a licensed practical nurse – now she’s taking advantage of a new OCC program to move up in the field and become a registered nurse. Delicia, 30, has always cared for people, whether strangers or members of her own family.

When she was only six, Delicia began to look after her mother, Barbara Dade Lewis, who was suffering from multiple sclerosis. Delicia took care of her mother until Barbara eventually succumbed to the disease in 1999. While still a high school student Delicia took a job at Ferndale’s Hilton Convalescent Home as a nursing assistant. She found that the work suited her. "I enjoyed geriatrics, and I liked working in a nursing home setting," she says. Then, for 10 years, Delicia looked after her grandmother, Willie Ann Austin, who lived across the street in her own home to the age of 103. With such a background, it’s not surprising that Delicia focused early on the field of nursing.

"This is my calling," she says. After graduation from Ferndale High School in 1989, Delicia decided that her first step would be an associate degree in general studies at OCC. She graduated in 1992 with a highly respectable B plus grade point average. "The first class I took was How to be a Master Student – it taught me to organize my schoolwork and develop good study habits." The course, Delicia says, got her off on the right foot, and was an important factor in her later successes.

With her associate’s degree completed, Delicia again focused on her original goal. She enrolled in OCC’s one-year practical nursing program, earned her certificate in 1993, and successfully passed the licensing exams in 1994. That same year Delicia took a job at Menorah House in Southfield, a skilled nursing home where she worked as a night nurse, with 51 elderly residents in her care.

This fall, Oakland Community College announced its new Transitional Practical Nurse (TPN) program – a course of study that enables practical nurses now working in the field to take the sixty plus additional credits that will lead to an associate degree in nursing, and qualify them to sit for the state and federal registered nurse licensing exams. This is what Delicia was waiting for.

"I kept asking Dr. Nadia Boulos [dean of OCC’s allied health programs] when the college was going to establish a transitional program for us practical nurses…and finally it happened," Delicia says.

Delicia didn’t waste any time; in a heartbeat, she became one of the first students enrolled in the new program. This fall she has signed up for 14 credit hours, a full-time class load – and more. The management at Menorah House had been supportive of  Delicia’s career goals, allowing her to develop a work schedule that accommodated her classes. Nevertheless, she decided to leave in order to devote herself to her studies full time.

Delicia plans to complete the TPN program by December of next year. In the meantime, she is able to pick up some income as a pool nurse, accepting assignments that fit in with her hectic study schedule. She also gets some financial - and a great deal of emotional - support from her other grandmother, Gussie Mae Dade.

What’s next for Delicia Lewis? After she finishes at OCC, she plans to go on to a university and earn a bachelor’s. Eventually she wants to earn a master’s degree so she can become a nurse practitioner – a  nurse with advanced training in specialty areas who works in collaboration with physicians to provide complementary care including assessments, psychiatric testing, physicals and other special procedures. Most nurse practitioners are specially certified, and many have their own independent practices, an aspect of the profession that also appeals to Delicia.

Given her track record so far, one thing is sure – Delicia will persist until she achieves her goals. "It’s been one step at a time," she says, "but I’m happy helping people…and I have faith." What else would she need?

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