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������ Nursing Students Earn Apprenticeship Offers

On Monday, August 22nd, ������ held the inaugural apprenticeship signing ceremony on the Alexander City campus. This is a very unique program where the college partners with area healthcare businesses and facilities. The Alabama Office of Apprenticeship approached Central Alabama with the information to begin this program, and through demand, were able to move swiftly to gain interest from clinical partners in the service area. The inaugural group of 14 student nurse apprentices will be working in 6 clinical facilities in the ������ service area.

“I think this is the tip of the iceberg for our students, our companies, and our college,” Jeff Lynn president of ������ stated.

“It’s a win, win, win. It’s a win for the students because they get employed and educated at the same time. It’s a win for the companies because they are finding much needed workers, and it’s a win for the college because we are able to complete the educational program for the students.”

Jennifer Steele, Health Science Program Administrator at ������ feels this program will help our students find employers they want to work for and vice versa for the employers.

“As we move forward in recruiting classes each fall and spring, we anticipate student nurse apprentices filling the shortages felt by our clinical partners over the last 2-3 years,” Steele mentioned.

“With the apprentices working one on one with expert nurses, patients will begin to see the positive impacts in their healthcare experiences. Healthcare facilities should also begin to feel relief of the nursing shortages as the student nurse apprenticeship program grows across this area.”

Students signed agreements with Coosa Valley Medical Center, Grandview Medical Center, Prime Management, and Rehab Select. This particular program is geared to change the experiences for nursing students. Currently, a nursing student may work a full-time job, attend nursing class, plus complete required clinical hours. With the apprenticeship program, students can be hired by a healthcare facility, receive higher wages, and be paid for the clinical hours required by the nursing course.

“Most students continue to work full time jobs while caring for families. This will allow them to have a job and still be enrolled in the nursing program. This is an exciting opportunity for ������ and our healthcare partners,” Steele said.

For further information please contact Brett Pritchard at bpritchard@cacc.edu or 256-215-4254.