UPDATED 8:55 AM CST Nov 13, 2014 HOOVER, AL –WVTM-13 Story: “What’s Working in Shelby County?” – Spain Park High Molds and Trains Teens Toward Health Care Professions
With baby boomers aging, the health care industry is growing across Central Alabama, thus the demand for highly trained workers is also growing. There’s a unique Hoover City Schools program at Spain Park High School giving students a chance to get a competitive edge into the health care field through hands-on, high tech training in various health care professions.
The Health Sciences Academy ( HSA) is directed by Jason Zajac and started four years ago with 46 students. Now the program has more than 200 students enrolled.
Recently, school officials unveiled a newly revamped Health Sciences Academy at Spain Park. The unveiling highlighted months of work initiated by a $227,000 grant which enabled the HSA to drastically expand into three labs and a lecture classroom. The newly-outfitted labs features a range of technology, medical equipment and other components including manikins that mimic a number of human conditions. Typically, high tech tools of this nature are found in nursing and medical schools.
The HSA program also works in conjunction with nearby Jefferson State Community College. Through HSA, students have dual-enrollment and EMS credentialing and certification opportunities. Overall, students leave this high-functioning academy ready for either a career in health care field or advancing their health care interest in college.
In this What’s Working report, Alabama’s 13’s Bettina Boateng, Producer Robyn Sirmans and Photojournalist Ben Bryson take you inside Spain Park High’s Health Sciences Academy to show you how a new grant, coupled with an intense health care focus curriculum and a productive partnership between Jefferson State Community College, is training students into qualified health care professionals.
Copyright 2014 by Alabamas13.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
