Virginia, and the nation, continue to struggle with health care staff shortages. But nearly $1 million delivered to a central Virginia community college system should help address the issue.
Licensed practical nurse student Brittnee Weber was being quizzed at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College’s downtown Richmond campus.
"He’s got blue nostrils and lips so he’s definitely cyanotic,” she tells her classmates as a professor looks on.
Weber is nearing the end of her program, and on this day, she’s taking vitals and collecting information on a dummy.
But the dummy isn’t just lying there; it breathes, its face changes colors to suggest different abnormalities. It’s all part of the college’s high tech training facility that’s on track for a nearly $1 million dollar boost thanks to federal funds.
Lisa Day is one of the professors at the surgical technology program which ends with an associate's degree after four semesters, allowing grads to scrub in aid in surgery and get paid shortly after.
“Patients, when they’re asleep in the operating room, they don’t have their own voice, that’s who we are. We’re the ones who keep them safe,” Day, who said she got into nurse tech work because of a love of working with her hands.
She said she's had students as young as 17 and those later in life looking to start a more fulfilling career.
"We can have everyone from high school graduates to people looking for new careers," Day said.
The federal money will be used to expand the simulation labs where students interact with high tech simulators and other tools before they end up in real operating rooms. Senator Tim Kaine, on site to celebrate the federal funding, said it was an example of a project Congress is looking to boost as the nation faces workforce shortages.
“Good projects, trusted deliverers of the projects, regional in nature, workforce focused," Kaine said. "This is why Senator Warner and I advocated successfully.”
To that end, Kaine encouraged other folks with workforce-related project ideas to reach out to his office.
