New health care training ‘win-win’ for Wiregrass (2024)

GENEVA- A partnership made possible with $1.2 million from the Alabama Centers for Rural Healthcare Opportunity Grant Program is called a “win-win” by educators, legislators and medical personnel who met at Wiregrass Medical Center in Geneva Friday to announce a new health care training opportunity.

A collaboration between WMC, Enterprise State Community College, and the Geneva Regional Career Technical Center will provide a health science instruction lab at the WMC’s former Intensive Care Unit. The grant money will go towards renovating the ICU space, training supplies, staff, and building the program, which will start in the fall.

WMC is a 67-bed health care facility located in Geneva since 1955. The six-bed wing formerly used as an ICU is being transformed into a hands-on training unit for dual-enrolled high school students and college students as part of the partnership.

“This is a crucial, direct avenue to those high school students in dual enrollment. This partnership will step up the game,” said Tammy McDaniels, WMC Quality Director. “This is personal to the students, this is their home, these are the people they have grown up with.”

Geneva County Schools Assistant Superintendent Ralph Riley agreed. “This program is going to give our students real-life training, marketable job skills and the opportunity to stay in Geneva County,” he said. “We’re thankful for this partnership and the opportunity it provides our students.”

Opened in 2017 in Geneva, the GTECH center includes workforce training in six career paths for students from Samson, Geneva, Geneva County and Slocomb High Schools. In addition to the health science track, GTECH includes courses in education and training, welding, aviation, information technology, and automotive service. At each of the high schools in the county, students also can take agriscience, business, family studies, and community services courses.

“GTECH was founded on partnerships,” said State Sen. Donnie Chesteen. “Career tech education links students to the community using work-based learning opportunities. Enrollment in GTECH is higher than it’s ever been and we’re running out of room.

“The timing couldn’t be better for this partnership with Wiregrass Medical Center and Enterprise State because it not only gives us the space that we need to train health care workers, but this is exactly what we are trying to do in the legislature, which is to find pathways for students into the workforce,” Chesteen said. “This will go a long way towards creating health care workers who can walk into the work force right after high school.”

“The partnership creates a pathway for our students to receive health science training, to include practical nursing, medical assisting, and EMS,” said ESCC Nursing Program Coordinator and Health Science Division Chair Amy ursing Program Coordinator and Health Science Division Chair Amy Phillips. “The majority of the clinical hours will be accomplished right here in Geneva and the healthcare training in Geneva will be congruent to the training that we offer on our Enterprise campus. The state-of-the-art lab space will be equivalent to the lab space on our main campus and the students here will be afforded the same opportunities that they receive in Enterprise.

“ESCC strives to meet students where they are,” Phillips added. “The opportunity we are affording students here will give them hands-on, real-life, training in a clinical setting.”

“We have lost too many of our rural hospitals in the last few years and this program will go a long way towards helping us retain employees in our rural areas,” said State Rep. Jeff Sorrells. “Being partnered with Enterprise State is going to be a tremendous asset for Geneva County but it will also be an asset for the entire Wiregrass.”

“While the challenges of providing rural healthcare are undeniable, at ESCC, we believe there are opportunities associated with those challenges,” said ESCC Dean of Instruction Dr. Anna Head. “Serving our community through education and workforce training is central to the mission of ESCC.”