Expanded nursing program at HGTC

The recession, to-date, caused the U.S. to lose multiple millions of jobs.  People everywhere are searching for new careers.  Fortunately for the Eastern Carolina area, a new grant at Horry Georgetown Technical College means their Nursing and Allied Health Program expanded to reach a much bigger audience.  This expansion translates to training more people to be job ready.

Megan Simcox and Corey Morris are just a few months into their new career path and new lives. Megan is a theater graduate who was laid off in the spring from her job at a local theater. She said she was always interested in nursing.  “There is a lot of job security to it,” said Simcox.  “The pay is usually a higher pay scale and after being laid off once, that means a lot.  So, I do enjoy working with the patients and I feel like I get a lot out of that and I’d like to think I give them something too.“
   
Morris spent the last ten years in construction.  He was also laid off during the recession.  “I always wanted to get into the medical field and then you hear about the shortage of male nurses,” said Morris.  “So, I decided I want to be one of those who possibly gets one of the jobs and there’s job security because people always need to be taken care of.“

The Nursing and Allied Health Institute received a nearly two million dollar federal grant through the Department of Labor.  This allowed them to create multiple new phases including a faith-based community outreach program in Conway and a high school medical assistant program.

“We just launched our first medical assistant program out at Andrews High School in Georgetown County,” said Watson Felder, the Program Manager.  “It’s the first time we actually worked with students of this age and we’re going into a 10th grade setting and when they graduate from high school in the 12th grade, they will have a Medical Assistant Certificate and be ready to take a test and be marketable for jobs.“

Felder, whose job was also recently eliminated at Clemson University, said the program focuses on displaced workers.  He said the ultimate goal of the program is make a difference in the community and the lives of the students. 
   
The program also offers nurse education, refresher courses and advanced classes.  They plan to expand the Certified Nursing Assistant Program to other communities in the fall.

For more information on the program:
http://bluedasher.tynken.com//documents/hgtc/continuing_education_documents/ah_catalog_fall_09.pdf