Pueblo Neighborhood School presents free tuition for well being care certificates
Pueblo Neighborhood School is providing 5 well being care certificates packages tuition-free by means of a statewide initiative centered on constructing Colorado’s well being care workforce.
Care Ahead Colorado will cowl tuition, charges and course materials prices for licensed nurse aide, emergency medical technician, phlebotomy technician, pharmacy technician and medical assistant packages at PCC.
PCC is one in every of 15 faculties collaborating in Care Ahead Colorado, in response to the Colorado Neighborhood School System.
“If somebody is , for example, in eager to be a CNA, then they might apply right here at Pueblo Neighborhood School and they’d full the FAFSA,” PCC President Patty Erjavec stated. “We might guarantee that they’re monetary aid-eligible and we’d get them by means of the method.”
“No matter their monetary support, Pell would pay for them. The scholarship would handle the stability,” she stated. “In essence, it’s free faculty for that particular person.”
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Applications earmarked for Care Ahead Colorado funds are certificates packages that may be accomplished inside a yr. Whereas certificates put together a person for an entry-level place, Erjavec stated they might be used as a stepping stone to incomes credentials for increased demand positions, together with registered nurses and paramedics.
Care Ahead Colorado takes impact this fall and is a results of Colorado Senate Invoice 22-226, a bipartisan effort allocating $26 million in Financial Restoration and Aid Money Funds for coaching well being care employees.
“That is simply one other fantastic alternative for the constituents in Pueblo County and in my whole service space … This can be a catalyst for people to get the competencies they should transfer into the allied well being care occupation, and hopefully proceed on in order that they’ll fill these excessive demand jobs,” Erjavec stated.
Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, well being care employee shortages have led to a number of census tracts throughout Colorado being designated main care Well being Skilled Scarcity Areas, in response to the Colorado Division of Public Well being and Setting. Some areas and amenities have even acquired federal designations.
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In Pueblo County, state designated scarcity areas embody Avondale, Beulah, Colorado Metropolis and Rye communities in Decile 10, indicating the “highest want” for main care professionals, in response to state information. With Parkview Medical Heart and St. Mary-Corwin Hospital close by, the town of Pueblo and most of Pueblo West is designated in Decile 2.
Two Pueblo County main care amenities, Pueblo Neighborhood Well being Heart, 110 E. Routt Ave., and La Vista Correctional Facility contained in the Colorado Psychological Well being Institute at Pueblo, are designated by the federal Well being Sources & Providers Administration as Well being Skilled Scarcity Areas, in response to HRSA information.
Whereas registration for the autumn 2022 semester has closed, spring 2023 registration at PCC will probably be open from Nov. 7 to Jan. 13.
Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo will be reached by e-mail at JBartolo@gannett.com.
