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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The current economic slump has only heightened interest in the health-care professions, one of the most recession-resistant career fields.
Across Western Massachusetts, community colleges, four-year colleges and private career schools are struggling to meet the demand for training in fields ranging from nursing and physical therapy to X-ray technicians and phlebotomists.
At Holyoke Community College, 400 students have applied for 50 spots in one nursing program, and 100 applied for a 25-student radiology class.
At American International College, nursing has overtaken business and criminal justice as the most popular major. To accommodate growth, the college has doubled the size of its virtual hospital, where students use high-technology instruments to practice on a $40,000 simulated patient.
At Branford Hall, a privately run career school, enrollment increased by 14 percent last year, with much of the growth coming in medical training.
"What we’re seeing now is the economy is forcing people to make career decisions; before, they would be willing to stay in a bad career," said David A. Stanford, vice president for community relations at East Haven, Conn.-based Premier Education Group, which owns Branford and 24 career schools in the Northeast.
While interest in other professions is dropping off, the challenge for health-care professionals is matching students with employer demands. Due to the fast-changing and increasingly technical nature of health care, students often do not know what jobs are available, much less what they entail.
Currently, Springfield Technical Community College offers training in 16 medical-related fields, from surgical technology to nuclear medicine.
Underscoring the need for training, the federal government awarded a $1.6 million grant in February to area colleges, hospitals and other groups to cultivate interest in health-care careers.
The goal: to recruit 1,800 students from junior-high school through college in three years, according to Michael C. Foss, dean of health and patient simulation program at STCC which is leading the partnership. The effort will work with a charity called World Is Our Classroom to develop a pipeline of medical talent.
Last year, Baystate and Sisters of Providence Health Systems received a total of $475,000 to train 65 certified nursing assistants. Baystate also got $50,000 to keep older surgical nurses in the profession.
David C. Gadaire, executive director of CareerPoint, a one-stop job center in Holyoke, says the health-care industry has largely withstood damage from the recession and continues to offer rewarding careers.
"It’s not recession-proof, but it’s pretty close to that," he said.
The housing collapse, stock market meltdown, rising unemployment and tightening credit have all made health care seem more attractive," said Gadaire.
"This is a stable field, and that makes it very attractive; we haven’t had an economy in 50 years," he added.
At American International, the promising job market is a bonus for Skyla M. Figueroa and Katy A. Parsadano.
The nursing students, both from East Hartford, had settled on their majors long before the bottom fell out of the economy.
"My mother was a nurse," said Parsadano. "It’s in the family."
Both students earned their way into AIC’s highly competitive program by completing course requirements last year.
Now, they are working in the virtual hospital, hovering over the bed of "Sim Man," the $40,000- multilingual medical mannequin. For this exercise, Sim Man was recovering from a lower leg amputation, and not feeling particularly chipper.
Eventually, after listening to his groaning and wheezing, the two student nurses decided – correctly – that a blood transfusion was needed.
None of this was possible a decade ago, when nurses had to practice with real patients, or on themselves.
"They are learning in a safe environment; they don’t have to worry about making a mistake," said Elizabeth Consalves, the program supervisor.
By videotaping each session, the class gets to review each student’s performance and detect where further training is needed. It also allows trainees to critique their own work.
"My mother never had anything like this," said Parsadano. (The Republican)
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The current economic slump has only heightened interest in the health-care professions, one of the most recession-resistant career fields.
Across Western Massachusetts, community colleges, four-year colleges and private career schools are struggling to meet the demand for training in fields ranging from nursing and physical therapy to X-ray technicians and phlebotomists.
At Holyoke Community College, 400 students have applied for 50 spots in one nursing program, and 100 applied for a 25-student radiology class.
At American International College, nursing has overtaken business and criminal justice as the most popular major. To accommodate growth, the college has doubled the size of its virtual hospital, where students use high-technology instruments to practice on a $40,000 simulated patient.
At Branford Hall, a privately run career school, enrollment increased by 14 percent last year, with much of the growth coming in medical training.
"What we’re seeing now is the economy is forcing people to make career decisions; before, they would be willing to stay in a bad career," said David A. Stanford, vice president for community relations at East Haven, Conn.-based Premier Education Group, which owns Branford and 24 career schools in the Northeast.
While interest in other professions is dropping off, the challenge for health-care professionals is matching students with employer demands. Due to the fast-changing and increasingly technical nature of health care, students often do not know what jobs are available, much less what they entail.
Currently, Springfield Technical Community College offers training in 16 medical-related fields, from surgical technology to nuclear medicine.
Underscoring the need for training, the federal government awarded a $1.6 million grant in February to area colleges, hospitals and other groups to cultivate interest in health-care careers.
The goal: to recruit 1,800 students from junior-high school through college in three years, according to Michael C. Foss, dean of health and patient simulation program at STCC which is leading the partnership. The effort will work with a charity called World Is Our Classroom to develop a pipeline of medical talent.
Last year, Baystate and Sisters of Providence Health Systems received a total of $475,000 to train 65 certified nursing assistants. Baystate also got $50,000 to keep older surgical nurses in the profession.
David C. Gadaire, executive director of CareerPoint, a one-stop job center in Holyoke, says the health-care industry has largely withstood damage from the recession and continues to offer rewarding careers.
"It’s not recession-proof, but it’s pretty close to that," he said.
The housing collapse, stock market meltdown, rising unemployment and tightening credit have all made health care seem more attractive," said Gadaire.
"This is a stable field, and that makes it very attractive; we haven’t had an economy in 50 years," he added.
At American International, the promising job market is a bonus for Skyla M. Figueroa and Katy A. Parsadano.
The nursing students, both from East Hartford, had settled on their majors long before the bottom fell out of the economy.
"My mother was a nurse," said Parsadano. "It’s in the family."
Both students earned their way into AIC’s highly competitive program by completing course requirements last year.
Now, they are working in the virtual hospital, hovering over the bed of "Sim Man," the $40,000- multilingual medical mannequin. For this exercise, Sim Man was recovering from a lower leg amputation, and not feeling particularly chipper.
Eventually, after listening to his groaning and wheezing, the two student nurses decided – correctly – that a blood transfusion was needed.
None of this was possible a decade ago, when nurses had to practice with real patients, or on themselves.
"They are learning in a safe environment; they don’t have to worry about making a mistake," said Elizabeth Consalves, the program supervisor.
By videotaping each session, the class gets to review each student’s performance and detect where further training is needed. It also allows trainees to critique their own work.
"My mother never had anything like this," said Parsadano. (The Republican)
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