Contact: Sharon Fisher
December 14, 2007

Community Colleges to Expand Nursing and Allied Health Programs

Applications currently are being accepted for expanded nursing and allied health programs that soon will be offered at community colleges throughout Southwest Virginia as the result of a $2 million grant from the Department of Labor.

“These newly expanded programs will help fill shortages in nursing and other allied health professions,” said Heather Musick, project director for the Southwest Virginia Healthcare Workforce Development Consortium. “We’re removing obstacles by making it possible for many people in our region to complete these programs without traveling a great distance every day.”

Mountain Empire Community College, Southwest Virginia Community College, Virginia Highlands Community College, and Wytheville Community College currently have cooperative allied health programs that require students to travel between community colleges to complete coursework and laboratory assignments. The grant funds will be used for each college to build new laboratories and hire new faculty members, which ultimately will provide expanded offerings on each campus, Musick explained. Students will utilize distance education technology to complete coursework, she added.

Planned laboratories include:

• A Medical Laboratory Technology lab at Mountain Empire Community College. The existing MLT lab at Wytheville Community College also will be expanded.
• A Respiratory Therapy lab at Wytheville Community College to supplement the laboratory that currently exists at Southwest Virginia Community College.
• A Radiography laboratory at Mountain Empire Community College, pending accreditation approval.
  Pending accreditation approval, an Occupational Therapy Assistant lab on the campus of Virginia Highlands Community College. Students also have the option of traveling to Southwest Virginia Community College’s existing facility in Grundy.
• Physical Therapy Assistant labs at Southwest Virginia and Virginia Highlands community colleges, pending accreditation approval. These new labs will supplement the existing lab at Wytheville Community College.
  The grant also will provide several new faculty members, including a nursing instructor for the Virginia Appalachian Tricollege Nursing Program’s (VATNP) Weekend/Evening program. VATNP is a cooperative nursing program involving Mountain Empire, Southwest Virginia, and Virginia Highlands community colleges.

Applications currently are being accepted on each campus. To learn more about program requirements, the selection process, and application deadlines contact:

• Jim Ferris at Southwest Virginia Community College at (276) 964-7300.
• Mountain Empire Community College at (276) 2400. Please ask for Kim Dorton at extension 356 or Ross Santell at extension 431.
• Paige Kelly at Virginia Highlands Community College at (276) 739-2485.
• Wytheville Community College’s Admissions Office at (276) 223-4701.

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