NATCHEZ — Every hunter has his favorite hunting grounds.

And for Adam North his is Copiah-Lincoln Community College Natchez.

North, a Natchez native and 1981 graduate of Adams County Christian School is now the manager of respiratory care at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge and when he’s looking for respiratory therapists to add to his staff he comes home.

North traditionally hires two to four therapists from each graduating class at Co-Lin Natchez because he said they are just better prepared to enter the hectic health care world.

“There is a difference in (Natchez graduates’) personalities and mindset,” North said. “They are very independent and confident. You don’t have to push them to get involved with patient care like you do other new therapist. They like the adrenaline.”

Respiratory therapists are responsible for making sure ventilators and life support machines are working properly along with other duties related to respiratory care.

When North became manager of the unit, Natchez wasn’t even an area the center recruited for new therapists. But as soon as he could, North changed that.

“I told the girl I recruited with that we were going to Natchez,” he said. “I told her there is a fine set of young people in Natchez.”

And North was right from the beginning.

“I hired four people on the first trip (in 2005),” North said.

Kendrix Davis, a Woodville native, joined North at Our Lady of the Lake in 2006 shortly after completing the respiratory therapy curriculum at Co-Lin Natchez. Davis said it is the rigorous coursework that is required in the Co-Lin program that makes Co-Lin graduates stand out.

Davis credited Walt Wilson, Co-Lin respiratory care technology instructor with making sure he was prepared.

“Mr. (Walt) Wilson has us ready for real world experiences, real life situations, when we finish at Co-Lin,” Davis said. “It is a tough program at Co-Lin, but it is worth it.”

Davis was named the 2007 Team Member of the Year for the respiratory care department.

The department was named the top respiratory care department in the country in Advance for Respiratory and Sleep Practitioners Magazine in 2009. They were also recognized as the top hospital in Louisiana for respiratory care by the Louisiana Society for Respiratory Care.

Currently North has eight Co-Lin graduates on his staff. They are Megan Austin, Tori Cage, Davis, Ty Eicemann, Quincy Futrell, Garrett May, Amy Morse and Katie Stevens.

Eicemann was the 2006 rookie of the year in the department.

Davis and Futrell have rated in the top 10 percent in staff evaluations since joining the Our Lady of the Lake staff.

When students complete the program at Co-Lin they have the opportunity to be certified in neonatal resuscitation, pediatric advance life support and advance cardiac life supports. Wilson said that is a unique opportunity in respiratory therapy programs.

Since his first trip to Co-Lin, North has developed a relationship with Wilson in respiratory care technology department at Co-Lin that now includes having Co-Lin students do clinical rotations at Our Lady of the Lake.

North said during those clinicals he begins noticing differences in Co-Lin students and other students, and that is partly because of the way Wilson encourages the students.

“(Wilson) said ‘I want you to give them as much work as possibly handle,’” North said. “Other departments have told me to give there students just a taste of what it is like.

“(Wilson) really pushes them to work like a therapist and not like students.”

Because of that North said Co-Lin graduates adjust better to real life health care situations.

“Two of my therapists from my first Co-Lin group ran a code almost completely on their own within two months of coming to work here,” North said. “I’d rather have to pull someone back than have to push them in, and Co-Lin graduates are always eager to jump in.”

Wilson said one thing that sets the Co-Lin s the amount of instructor- student interaction that is available. The class size is limited to 15 student and the small size allows instructors Wilson and Janay Perkins the chance to teach students in one-on-one situations.

Wilson also said during clinical rotations students rotate between nine different hospitals to give them a taste of every size medical facility possible.

“When they are finished with their clinicals, they have been at a 20-bed rural hospital all the way up to a 800-bed facility and everything in between,” Wilson said. “The thing about it is is that when the poop hits the fan our students know what to do and they aren’t shy about doing it.”

Wilson and Perkins go one step further by allowing their students to get extra experience in hospital environments under their close supervision.

“Both Janay and I still work as respiratory therapists and when we work, we offer our students the chance to come with us,” Wilson said. “That gives them time to get experience with me there.”

Davis agreed that having so much experience before his first day of actual work at Our Lady of the Lakes made him more comfortable with his abilities.

“Because of the way we were taught, it is easier for us to jump into a situation,” Davis said. “That’s the main difference between us and other people who come in here.”