Alfa Healthcare Training Institute Celebrates First Graduating Class

With speakers invoking the names and words of our nation’s founding fathers as inspiration, Maplewood’s ALFA Healthcare Training Institute celebrated its first graduating class in a ceremony at the Institute’s home on Springfield Avenue.

Located directly across the Avenue from the Maplewood Public Library, ALFA Healthcare Training Institute was founded in 2008 and provides comprehensive professional healthcare programs across the continuum of health care. The first graduating class consisted of 21 students; the Institute is proud to announce that 5 have already found full-time employment with opportunities awaiting other members of the class because of the demand for their specialized services.

Maplewood Township Committeeman Jerry Ryan congratulated the school’s founders, educators and students for their achievement in his remarks at the graduation ceremony.  In turn, the Institute’s leadership team thanked Ryan as a representative of the Township, as well as Mayor Vic De Luca and the Township Committee, and representatives of the Springfield Avenue Partnership and other members of the Maplewood community for their support and assistance.

In addition to the presentation of certificates to the graduates, the program included an Opening Prayer by Pastor Elijah Akinwunmi of Newark, the introduction of the school’s management and guests by Mr. Rotimi Ibiyode, ALFA’s Finance & Administration Director, remarks by the President of ALFA HealthCare Training Institute Rev. Ebenezer Adeyinka, remarks by student representative Ms. Kimberly Corbett and closing remarks by the school’s On Site Director, Mr. George Holmes.

Noting the Nigerian heritage of the Institute’s founders, Dione Williams, M.D., a Partnership board member with a professional practice located in the district, said diversity is one of the strengths of Maplewood’s Springfield Avenue business community. “Our business and restaurant owners understand what products and services the community needs because many also call Springfield Avenue home and reflect and embrace the diversity that makes this area special.”

The Nursing Assistant Program offered by ALFA Healthcare Training Institute (ALFA) is a 90-hour program including didactic courses and supervised clinical rotation at a long term care facility. During the program, students learn to assist patients or residents with healthcare needs and activities of daily living, and to provide bedside care including basic nursing procedures, all under the supervision of a Registered Nurse, certified by the Department Of Health and Senior Services.

As part of their clinical training, the students worked with instructors at the highly rated Greenhill Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in West Orange. ALFA representatives expressed gratitude to Greenhill management for their support and cooperation at the graduation ceremony.

In addition to the Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) program, the school has been approved by the New Jersey Board of Nursing for its Certified Home Health Aides program, and approval by the Department of Education for its Automated Computer Program. “We are working hard to actualize our goal of getting the school approved by the New Jersey Board of Nursing for a program for License Practical Nursing (LPN) certification when applications are being accepted again for the program,” stated the Institute’s Operational Director, Mrs. Olubunmi Sonubi.

It was a difficult road that led to the successful graduation ceremony under sunny skies, but everyone shared a great sense of accomplishment, concluded the Institute’s Field Director, Adefowoju Adewale.

In closing her remarks, Mrs. Sonubi summed up the school’s philosophy, urging the new graduates “to always show themselves as good ambassadors of the school, and to remember that they had chosen this career path to give their clients compassionate care, to show love to the unloved, and respect and dignity to all in life and in death.”

For more information about ALFA Healthcare Training Institute, visit the school’s website at ahcti.com. For more information about the Springfield Avenue Partnership, visit SpringfieldAvenue.com or follow the Partnership on Facebook at Facebook.com/Springfield-Avenue-Partnership.