This article is part of a series by The Vicksburg Post, in partnership with the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, featuring each of the nominees for teacher of the year honors. 

Eloise Ford, a Health Science Instructor at Hinds Community College-Vicksburg, teaches real-life lessons that can save a life. 

Ford is a finalist for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Educator of the Year award. The chamber will select and announce one elementary and one secondary teacher of the year at the chamber luncheon on Feb. 15. The winner of each award will receive $1,000 from Ameristar Casino and the runner-up for each award will receive $500 from Mutual Credit Union. 

She started as a nurse’s aide in 1977 at Hinds Community College. Then in 1982, Ford became a licensed practical nurse at Hinds Community College. She then received her bachelor of science in nursing from Alcorn State University in 1992. Ford has worked as the Health Science Instructor at Hinds Community College Career and Technical Center on the Vicksburg campus since 2002.

An example of a life-saving lesson Ford teaches to her students is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and basic life support (BLS).

“My beliefs about teaching are demonstrated in this lesson in that this lesson demonstrates saving lives,” Ford said. “I believe that the health care profession is an ‘all in’ profession, which means that you have to be fully committed to the profession and that commitment drives you to save and preserve lives.”

Students learn how to give CPR/BLS with the help of CPR manikins and videos.

“After the lesson, each student is required to perform or reciprocate hands-on demonstrations and written evaluations of the lesson taught,” she said.

Not only does this lesson give students the information they need to help save a life, but it also allows them to decide if they should pursue a career in healthcare.

“As a result of this specific lesson, my students verbalize interest in health-related fields and find that this lesson is useful in many other health-related occupations,” Ford said.

To further her students’ education in health science, Ford said she tries to stay up-to-date with the healthcare industry.

“As a healthcare provider, I stay connected and updated with the healthcare industry so that I can bring the knowledge I obtained back to the students in the lab/classroom setting,” Ford said.

She also makes sure her students have all the resources they need to understand each lesson which includes the learning lab, modern-day medical equipment, smartboards and mannequins. 

These resources help, especially when she gives a lesson on CPR/BLS. After her lesson on CPR/BLS she said that “95 percent of her students were successful in reciprocating demonstrations required to become CPR certified and pass a national written exam (American Heart Association) and received their BLS certification.”