Health Sciences Receives $300,000 Grant

5/11/2006 11:23 AM

Message: GCSC gets $300,000 health-care grant

By S. Brady Calhoun, News Herald Writer 747-5075 / bcalhoun@pcnh.com

Gulf Coast State College students have a pregnant mannequin of their very own.

Nursing students at Gulf Coast work with Noelle, a mannequin that simulates a lateterm pregnancy. Students can check the “baby’s” heartbeat, the mother’s heartbeat and deliver the infant during their classes.

The mannequin makes more sense than a young student asking a nervous mother questions in the delivery room, nursing coordinator Christine Bottkol said. Noelle, a $10,500 piece of plastic and electronics, was one of the first things health science officials purchased after they received $301,688 through Florida’s Department of Education.

The money came in July and allowed college leaders to increase weekend and distance learning classes in nursing, radiography and surgical technology programs, said Jeff Stevenson, the dean of workforce education.

Florida needs more people in the health-care field now, Stevenson added.

“Florida is an aging population group,” he said.

The college has about 200 people enrolled in its nursing program and a 100-percent placement rate, Bottkol said. There’s a “huge saturation” of students in the regular classes, she said.

Even so, the college is opening up more registered nursing slots because local hospitals need more professionals, Bottkol said. Some of the new classes will help licensed practical nurses become registered nurses. A registered nurse earns almost $10 more an hour than an LPN, Bottkol said.

Libbie McNaron, the coordinator of the surgical technology program, wants to bring in students who are already working in the field but haven’t done the coursework. Many surgical technologists got their training on the job or in the military but they may now face a tough time finding work if they don’t have the degree to go with their experience, McNaron said.

“Twenty years ago, surgical technologists were trained on the job,” McNaron said.

Teaching surgical technology is expensive, McNaron said, but Gulf Coast is committed to supporting the new classes after the grant expires. The college is also offering more courses in magnetic resonance imaging and sonography.

For more information on any of these new courses, call 1 (800) 311-3685, ext. 3311.