West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s Nursing program gets $210k grant

A $210,000 grant has been awarded to West Kentucky Community and Technical College to expand its Nursing program. The grant has been awarded by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education Healthcare Workforce Collaborative Program.

West Kentucky Community and Technical College says the money will be used to create a new and accelerated hybrid Licensed Practical Nurse to Registered Nurse Bridge program for licensed practical nurses who are currently working. 

The school says the program will feature classes that have a new design to accelerate the process in hopes of filling the worker shortage currently being faced by the healthcare industry. The courses will feature weekend classes, nursing-specific student mentoring, and will last only one year, starting in the fall of 2023.

Vanessa Lyons, West Kentucky Community and Technical College nursing program access and success coordinator, was quoted by KFVS12 on the creation of the program as saying, “This new program is designed for working LPNs who need a flexible program which allows them to keep working while they take the coursework to become an RN.”

Shari Gholson, the dean of nursing and allied health, was also quoted on the high hiring rate of Registered Nursing students coming out of the school: “The quickest way to get well-prepared RNs into the area workforce is for LPNs to become RNs through the new accelerated hybrid program. This two-year grant will enable WKCTC to expand our programming to address the shortage of registered nurses in the Purchase area. We anticipate the hybrid delivery format will open up access to the education mobility opportunity for more students.”

West Kentucky Community and Technical College offers several programs in the healthcare field beyond nursing programs from Surgical Technology to Radiology and more. A list of all of the school’s course offerings in and beyond healthcare can be found here.