A graduate of the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce’s nonprofit job-training program won the Rose Award from Methodist Dallas Medical Center recently.
Johnny Garay received the award, which is given quarterly to patient care technicians who have displayed excellent commitment and service to patients. A patient nominated Garay for the award.
Garay, 27, works in the hospital’s Transplant Progressive Care Unit. He was a manager at CVS when he entered Oak Cliff Works’ 22-week program to become a patient care technician. The job involves supplementing the work of nurses and includes drawing blood, checking vitals, maintaining patient logs and making sure patients have everything they need to be comfortable.
Oak Cliff Works is a job-training program from Oak Cliff Empowered, which is the nonprofit arm of the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce. The patient-care technician program is taught at Methodist Dallas.
“Oak Cliff Works serves populations deserted by pathways to middle-skills job training, traditional apprenticeship programs and career pathways,” says Kiyundra Gulley, president of Oak Cliff Empowered and the Oak Cliff Chamber.
Garay applied this year to Methodist Health System’s nursing program through Dallas College and will find out later this year whether he’s been accepted.
“I saw another window of opportunity opening, and my work with Oak Cliff Works has now have given me the confidence to pursue it,” Garay says. “What I thought was going to be closed for me forever is open again, and now that I have these skills and confidence, I am ready to apply and get in there.”
