Cove High awarded $60K grant for medical classes
Fri, 2016-09-09 05:00
News Staff
Special to Leader-Press
Students enrolled in Copperas Cove High School’s health sciences classes will become better prepared in their respective medical fields thanks to a $60,000 grant for high-tech equipment.
The Texas Workforce Commission awarded the 6A high school with the financial boost through the Jobs and Education for Texans grant program. The JET program provides grants to eligible educational institutions to defray the start-up costs associated with developing career and technical education programs. The grant will support CCHS’ dual credit career and technical educational opportunities.
The school applied through a competitive grant process said Russell Porterfield, CCISD Director of Career and College Readiness.
“Equipment purchases include two simulation manikins, two hospital beds with complete headboards, and a simulator for phlebotomy students to practice with,” Porterfield said. “We should begin purchasing equipment in the next few weeks.”
Porterfield said the school anticipates approximately 200 different students annually will receiving health sciences training while utilizing the equipment.
“The simulators will provide us the opportunity to train students on a variety of skills on which we could not previously train them,” Porterfield said. “For example, we will be able to program the simulator to give the symptoms of specific problems and allow the students to practice identifying the cause rather than just reading about it and possibly experience it during clinical rotations. Additionally, it will provide the opportunity for more and different training in phlebotomy before moving the students to work with live patients.”
CCHS will use the old equipment in its principle classes on a regular basis rather than only being able to be used when the upper level students did not need it. Both the new and older equipment will be used in classes for phlebotomy, certified nursing assistants, medical assistants, Principle of Health Science, and Emergency Care Attendant classes.
CCHS currently has 671 students enrolled in Health Sciences classes although some students may be duplicated, taking more than one health science class during the same semester.
The JET grant program allocates $10 million every two years to defray start-up costs associated with the development of career and technical education programs to public community and technical college and independent school districts. Recent legislation passed by the 84th Texas Legislature transferred oversight of the state-funded program from the Texas Comptroller’s Office to the Texas Workforce Commission.