Patricia Graham and Sarah Benson of Boulder and Longmont, Colorado, founded
Occupational Training Solutions in September 2009.

Patricia Graham
(RN, MSN, CNE)

Sarah Benson
(OTS Co-founder)

Patricia Graham began her career in 1993 as a housekeeper in a nursing home. She loved talking with the residents and, at the advice of a CNA, she decided to take a class at the facility.

"The CNA class I took was very short and I was working with patients within days of starting," Patricia reported. "I just followed my peers and did what they did. I made a lot of mistakes when providing care—at the expense of my patients." After a year in the field, Patricia was fortunate to work with a nurse who would accompany her and point out mistakes. "Not only did she tell me what mistakes I was making, she also told me the reason behind what I was doing and how my mistakes impacted the patients. That was life changing. I knew then that I wanted to teach these basic nursing skills because it was critical for them to be done the right way."

Patricia went on to become an LPN, and then an RN. She began working in nursing management, as an Assistant Director of Nursing, a Staff Development Coordinator, and as a Restorative Nurse. For more than eight years she has been directing the Nurse Aide Program at Front Range Community College (FRCC) in Boulder County, Colorado, where she also continues to work as a nurse and consultant. In 2008, she traveled to the University Of Zambia School Of Medicine to lecture on transcultural nursing. She loves sharing her enthusiasm for better patient care.

Patricia now has seventeen years of nursing experience, including 10 in nursing education. She has earned her Master's in Nursing Education and has become a Certified Nurse Educator (CNE). In 2009, she was named "Master Teacher" at FRCC. "I was shocked to get the master teacher award because I still think of myself as a nurse first," Patricia said. "I still put patient care before anything else and I think that my students get that. I want them to realize how important they are in the lives and well-being of others. The bar is set high for a reason."

Patricia's dream is to benefit as many patients as possible, by sharing knowledge with those providing care. "It used to be me out there, affecting the patients I had contact with. By providing education, I feel like I can affect many more patients in a positive way, through the caring actions of others. Making these training videos is another extension of this dream. I want health care providers to have an extraordinary product that shows how to provide care in a very real way, with real people."

Co-founder Sarah Benson shares Patricia's work ethic and is also dedicated to the cause of excellence in patient care. Her professional background is in veterinary medicine and business administration. "What we have for health-care providers and educators is something more realistic and useful than anything else out there."