MATC getting $1.2 million federal job training grant for health-related programs
By Karen Rivedal, The Wisconsin State Journal | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The local job training money is part of a total
At MATC, also known as
The medical certificate will package together three core classes totaling nine credits that are typically required for any health-focused degree at MATC, Re said. The classes are medical terminology, body structure and function, and health and disease in the human body, he said.
"That forms a three-legged stool for really understanding a lot of the conditions that ... insurance companies really need their claims adjusters to understand," Re said. "With nine credits, in a short amount of time, a student will be able to earn a certificate that will then land them an opportunity to have an interview for a job that previously they wouldn't have been qualified for."
MATC was first approached by a local insurance company years ago with a request for development of a certificate program that could give claims adjusters medical information to do their jobs better, Re said, and the grant money will now provide the resources to do it.
But the certificate also could serve as a good introduction to the entire health care field for students, he said.
"We're not just creating it because we have the money," Re said. "We really see a value added (by it). It will be a good certificate to earn regardless of whether students want to work in insurance or not. It can also be for folks who are thinking of doing medical careers of any kind."
The other new offering to be developed with the grant will be an accelerated program to allow paramedics to train to become nurses nine months faster than they can now -- in 15 months rather than two years.
"They would come in and be really motivated learners and fast learners," Re said administrators were expecting. "They already know the jargon. We see this as a real opportunity to create additional nurses."
Grants for individual colleges in
MATC expects to enroll an estimated 365 students over three years in its two new programs, about 15 percent of the 2,452 total participants expected to be served by a variety of new health care-related job training programs that will be developed statewide through the grant.
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