Delta College nursing students are learning hospital procedures at Doctors Hospital of Manteca as they work the floor under their instructor Melissa Black and observe active procedures with registered nurses and patients.

Six women and three men noted the various passions that have driven them into the nursing profession and their desire to make a difference in people’s lives. The second year students are from Manteca, Stockton, Sonora and Lodi.

The students shown in the Doctors Hospital lobby, are from left to right:

• Melinda Adams, of Manteca, said she had a daughter who became seriously ill at 12 years old. When she passed away she noted that she decided to pursue a career in nursing to help others who were struggling with health problems.

• Hawtin, formerly of Oakland and now living in Stockton, said her parents had multiple health problems. Having taken science classes it seemed natural to pursue nursing. 

“Nursing is a great responsibility,” she said. “You can’t take it lightly.

• Jamie Vidrio, of Stockton, said she had an RN she knew when she was young and looked up to her and decided it was something she would like to emulate.

• Adam Alazzawi, of Stockton, a former Manteca High School biology teacher was injured in 2001 resulting in leg problems. That experience apparently had an impact and led to him wanting to help others as a registered nurse. 

• Kellee Berry, of Sonora, had been a postal worker for some five years and wanted to do something different that would be more stable. She had spent a great deal of time with a grandmother while she was in the hospital – deciding she wanted to go into nursing.

• Jasvik Singh most recently worked for county mental health where he said there were limitations on what he could do for other patients.

• Bill Costanza from Lodi is a retired paramedic having worked for the Stockton Fire Department for 28 years. Prior to that he served as a police officer for a little over a year saying it wasn’t a fit for him.

He said he is enjoying life raising his 17-year-old daughter in addition to having a 38-year-old son. He is now looking for an added career as a registered nurse. 

• Merina Monje said she had gone into office work right out of high school. She had met a doctor with a family practice who went to the same church as she did. He was instrumental in her interest in nursing, she said. Merina graduated from East Union High School saying she has a passion for helping people.

• Jamie Burgos, also from Manteca, won a scholarship from the DHM Volunteers and went to U.C. Berkeley but had to quit her classes to take care of ill family members becoming a certified nursing assistant and a certified medical assistant. Jamie is the youngest of the three siblings in her family.

She worked in a home hospice program for a year and a half moving back to Manteca to care for her grandmother Ellen Jarrett. 

The Delta nursing instructor Melissa Black also had her own reasons for going into the medical field. 

“When I was in nursing school I had a dream to make the program more passionate for students – after being approached by a nursing instructor at Delta College. I then attended Stanislaus State in Turlock and earned my BS,” she said.

Black then worked part-time at Delta and finished her life-long goal of obtaining a masters degree in May of 2013. Her passion was to relieve the students’ nervousness that they were doing everything right while going through the program. 

“My goal was to create an environment with low anxiety levels and yet high expectations,” she said. “They must focus on the whole learning experience because they will be taking care of us in the future.”