The San Luis Valley in south central Colorado is lucky to have two local nursing programs. Trinidad State College (TSC) in Alamosa, CO offers Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), associate degree Nursing (ADN), the Practice Nurse exit option (allowing a short course and exam after the first year for LPN), and an on-line RN-BSN program. TSC is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing.  Adams State University (ASU) in Alamosa, CO offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. The ASU BSN program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The two programs combined graduate approximately 25 new nurses per year. 

At the Colorado Nurses Associations 2025 conference, region 4’s CNA team was inspired by Amanda Skenandore’s break out session on “Read, Relax, and Renew”. The session discussed the need for nursing self-care and demonstrated how books and reading can be used as a tool to help. The team decided to use the concept and covered gently used books with basic descriptions on them, added homemade bookmarks, stickers, and delivered them to the local nursing faculty to read during their winter breaks. The goal of the project was to give back to other nurses, but it was also a great team-building opportunity!

Roberta Bean, MSN, RN
CNA Region 4 Director