If you’ve ever been to a doctor or been hospitalized, you understand the need for a good nurse. Someone who checks your vital signs, performs lab work, or maybe holds your hand and tells you everything will be all right. Aiken Technical College trains students to provide those skills and much more.
A recent $4,000 donation from the Aiken Chapter of Mended Hearts will provide equipment including teaching stethoscopes and an EKG simulator for hands-on training. This is not the first time the group, consisting of former heart patients, has stepped up to the plate to help.
“Since 2007, the local Mended Hearts organization has donated more than $80,000 to support our nursing program,” said Dr. Beth LaClair, Director of the ATC Foundation.
With the cost of teaching supplies increasing year-to-year, LaClair said the gift was great timing for the program and students, especially in light of a potential shortage of nurses.
McKinsey and Company, a global advisor to many of the world’s leading businesses, predicts a nursing shortage of up to 450,000 registered nurses by 2025.
Dr. Hannah Williams, Dean of Nursing for ATC, said the drop-off for enrollment for their nursing program started during COVID.
“We did have a drop-off in enrollment,” she said. “There was a level of uncertainty and nursing students were apprehensive about putting themselves at risk, but even before the pandemic, South Carolina was slated to be one of the top regions of the country for nursing shortages.”
Yet, as the population ages, there will be higher numbers of patients and according to Williams, Aiken Tech is gearing up to answer the call. This is why the donation from Mended Heart is a blessing.
“It enhances our ability to teach and supplies the equipment our students need for training in real-life situations,” Williams said. “We rely on technology, and it helps us stay up to speed on the latest practices and transition students into the workforce.”
Aiken Technical’s Nursing Program enrolls students for Associate Degrees, and practical nursing which leads to an LPN degree, and LPN to RN degrees.
Despite a nursing shortage forecast, it’s still a popular career path because nursing skills are needed in a variety of settings. Nearly everyone depends on the care of a nurse at some point whether, at a doctor’s office, in a hospital, for home health care, or in hospice. There will likely always be a demand for trained professionals in the field.
The National Library of Medicine projects that between 2020 and 2029, there will be a 15 percent growth in healthcare, creating more than 2 million jobs – 222,000 of which will be nurses.
For more information on how to support the Aiken Technical College Nursing Program or other areas of study, visit the ATC Foundation website.
Editor’s Note:
Mitzi Oxford is a veteran broadcaster and features writer who also worked at the same television station in Columbus, Georgia as Augusta’s Brad Means!
If you have a South Carolina story idea for Mitzi, please email her at mitzioxfordcreative@gmail.com.
