Recently, STCC was awarded a Department of Labor grant in excess of 1.5 million dollars. The purpose of the three year grant is to create a better way to help potential health care workers decide if they want to enter health care and then to help them enter and survive an education program.
Over the years we have found that many people are unaware of the wide variety of health fields available, how to prepare for a program, and what it is really like to work in health care. In cooperation with Berkshire, Greenfield and Holyoke Community Colleges and the medical community, we are using the grant to develop better counseling and two hands-on experiences.
The new counseling gets health field information to potential students earlier and then provides follow up support all the way through graduation from a health program. Medical Encounters is a one day hands-on experience that gives high school students a dose of what it is like to work with patients. Students interview a patient and use that information to "diagnose" what disease state the patient may have. They also perform basic lab work and learn about the various health fields that would be used to diagnose and then treat the disease state. A full semester long college credit course - Introduction to Health Skills - provides an in depth hands-on experience with a variety of patients as well as exploration of health fields. Students in the skills course also become American Heart Association certified in CPR. Both experiences are provided by SIMS Medical Center, the Virtual Teaching Hospital @ STCC and Berkshire, Greenfield, and Holyoke Community College simulation centers.
The expected outcome is that a person who thinks they want to enter a health field, will be better informed, make appropriate decisions, get prepared to enter a program, enter the work force and STAY.
As the grant progresses, we will give you updates on how things are going. This is a very important grant that will have a positive impact on future heath care.
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