DOVER – Dea Coleman is setting her sights on success for what could be more than hundreds of new health care professionals in Delaware through her new Coleman CNA Academy.
Although she grew up wanting to be a lawyer, Coleman changed her dream when her father had a stroke just months before her high school graduation. In hopes of bringing him home from the hospital, she challenged herself to become a nurse – a challenge that would take her to heights she didn’t know were possible at the start of that journey.
After a lifetime of experiences, including graduation from the Delaware State Housing Authority’s public housing Moving-to-Work program, she has finally settled into a new path running Coleman Health Staffing agency which sends CNAs, or certified nursing assistants, into the community. Last year, the agency cleared over $1 million but, in doing so, she realized the industry void she could help fulfill didn’t rest only in staffing.
“I was getting calls from people asking if I could hire them as a home health aide and I couldn’t. But I could find a way to train them up so they could help themselves,” she told the Delaware Business Times.
She worked for months to craft a four-week long curriculum while other programs nearby typically last six or eight weeks. Once that was complete, she had to start applying for approvals to run her own education program which can now seat up to 30 students per month in day, evening and weekend classes.
Since opening Coleman’s CNA Academy last year, she and her trainers, including a licensed clinical social worker, have successfully helped around 30 individuals through the four-week program. The program includes simulated lab experience and clinicals with more to come in the new year.
“They have a career in 30 days. That’s incredible,” she said in reflecting on the journey that brought her from a young, single parent with a parent dealing with failing health to a leader in her industry working to help empower others along the way.
“What’s really great, too, is that we get to partner with these resources that I used or needed in my path, like TANF and the Delaware State Housing Authority,” she added. “The state, for example, has agreed to pay for up to 10 students at a time who utilize TANF to help give them a fresh start.”
Other partnerships help the program run smoothly, ensuring that each participant has the ability to access higher education.
“We are able to offer financial literacy through a partnership with M&T Bank. Our students will soon even be able to take their ProMetrics exam right here in the building instead of waiting four months or longer for a seat,” she said. “And soon, we’ll have a partnership with Dwyer Workforce Development which will take their files after graduation and follow them for a year to make sure they get employment or further education to include an RN degree. As someone who has worked hard from the ground up to get here, I treasure these opportunities for our students because I once needed them. I needed someone to give me a chance.”
Coleman’s CNA Academy also teams up with Bayada Home Health Care which offers a job fair for students and employment as home health aides fresh out of graduation while they wait to take their CNA testing.
“These are all strategically built partnerships with the resources I used in the community, and then some. It’s connected to all of the resources I had to utilize to survive,” Coleman said. “We’re overcoming barriers here. We offer daycare recommendations, referrals to mental health counseling if needed, transportation support, clinical rotations, it’s all built in. We’re more than an institution. We’re a resource hub.”
The academy’s simulated lab was put together with the same mindset in hopes of providing real-life opportunities for future health care workers. The inner workings include hospital beds, a mechanical arm used to teach blood pressure techniques, an electrical lift, two mechanical lifts, a geriatric chair, an IV pole with a feeding tube, an oxygen tank, a hand washing station and fake fingers on which the students can practice finger pricks.
“Some of these things simply aren’t in other schools and I’m very proud that we have them here. Our students deserve the best chances at success and it starts with their education,” Coleman said. “I try to give them the real deal. This is the pathway to the health field, right? I need to be extra.”
The partnerships that lift up the staffing agency and new academy don’t stop there. She also works with small businesses to provide uniforms, graduation gifts and CPR classes for her students and accounting for the back end of business. She has also found a lot of success in working with Evie Zerefos at the Small Business Development Center and Anastasia Jackson at the Delaware Division of Small Business.
“I try to think: what did I need to succeed? What do they need now? How is this beneficial? What more can I do?” Coleman told DBT. about her award-winning efforts, having recently earned a table winner award for reinventing Delaware from the Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation. “Everything here is about growth and development. No person coming in should be the same going out after their 30 days.”
