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NETC Medical Assistant program draws wide range of students

Northeastern Technical College's Allied Nursing program offers a variety of certifications students can strive to complete to enter a high-demand job; six students all from different starting points began NETC's Medical Assistant program in the fall semester.

In a single medical assistant class at the Dillon campus sits a laid-off plant worker, a mother and daughter, and adult teens prepping for the workforce.

Medical Assistants are unlicensed professionals who physicians can delegate tasks as well as coordinate patient scheduling and manage patient records.

"The health care system has been short staffed for years," said NETC Instructor Latonyia Hunter.

It's not for the lack of employees but the growth of the number of patients, Hunter said.

"It's a combination of baby boomers (born 1946-64) who are aging, and we are living longer which has created a larger demand for health care workers," Hunter said.

Labor studies have shown a need for about 400,000 home health care providers by 2025 and 200,000 new nurses annually until 2026 to replace those retiring, she said.

The noticeable staff shortages brought Tanya Washington, 42, of Bennettsville, to Northeastern Technical College.

At the end of 2022, Washington was out of a job after 16 years when Mohawk Flooring's Marlboro County plant permanently closed its doors.

In her downtime, she escorted family members to medical appointments. She noticed during each visit, regardless of the facility, help was needed.

"Everywhere I went, there was a shortage of staff," Washington said. "At first, I enrolled to take business classes, but as I kept taking family to their doctor appointments, I kept seeing staff was needed, I changed my courses."

Forth classmate Shanequa Campbell, 19, of Marion, the medical field was her stop.

Campbell wants to become a registered nurse and continued her classes past the Certified Nursing Assistant/Phlebotomy program; she is pacing herself between work and education.

"I think this will be better for me," she said.

"I want to be in the medical field and decided to try it out as a medical assistant," said classmate Laniah Dupree, 19, of Bennettsville, who chose a career in medical field out of high school.

Virginia Hunsucker, 48, and Evan Hunsucker, 19, a closeknit mother and daughter from Bennettsville, decided to enroll together.

Virginia was a stay-at-home mother anticipating an empty house and wanting a career, she made an unsuccessful attempt into the Allied Nursing program in 2019. As Evan graduated, they entered the program at the same time providing academic support for one another.

"I don't look at my mother as my mother, but as a classmate," Evan Hunsucker said. "We help each other out with schoolwork."

Both Virginia and Evan Hunsucker completed their prerequisite classes together, including phlebotomy – they were not allowed live stick each other, they said.

"Nursing is hard and requires dedication," said NETC Instructor Hunter. "Students need a good village among themselves to support and help each other."

NETC's medical assistant program requires the completion of 38 credit hours among 11 classes maintaining at least a 2.0 grade point average – this includes phlebotomy.

To sign up for the medical assistant program, students must:

Complete 22 credits with a minimum grade of average of 2.0 in all 22 credits for Nurse Preparatory Certificate program.

Submit results of annual tuberculin skin test (TST) and current Basic Life Support—Provider (BLS) by the American Heart Association.

Submit information and fees for background checks and toxicology screenings.

For more information visit www.netc.edu or call 800.921.7399.

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