Funding Buys an Anatomage Table and Simulation Mannequins so Students Can Earn Healthcare Credentials Before Graduation
BY CHERI JAY-WIENECKE, DISPATCH RECORD
If you listen closely while entering Lometa High School’s Career and Technical Education building, you will hear something very special. It is the click of doors of opportunity opening to the district’s medical education students. On Sept. 3, Gov. Greg Abbott named Lometa ISD the recipient of a Texas Workforce Commission Jobs and Education for Texans grant totaling $196,171. The funding allows Lometa to provide a more intensive medical education curriculum to its students.
The JET program provides grants to buy and install equipment for Career and Technical Education courses with the stipulation that these courses must lead to a license, certificate, or postsecondary degree in a high-demand occupation. The grant will benefit the school district significantly as it strives to provide students the opportunity to train as healthcare professionals prior to high school graduation.
Retired superintendent Rob Moore spearheaded the Lometa ISD’s drive to obtain the grant. “For several years, Lometa ISD has focused on improving career opportunities for our students,” Moore said. “Recognizing the ongoing need for healthcare professionals, we determined that a course of study leading to nursing or other medical careers would be ideal for Lometa students.”
The medical program, led by teacher and school nurse Valarie Nixon, has already seen success with recent graduates. “The program has given a number of Lometa students the opportunity to earn their Certified Clinical Medical Assistant certification while still in high school and to pursue medical careers and higher education pathways,” Moore said.
The JET grant from the Texas Workforce Commission allows Lometa to further that level of medical education by providing the funds needed to purchase an Anatomage Table and highly technical mannequins. The equipment enables students to practice clinical skills using equipment similar to what they will encounter in healthcare settings.
“This provides students with hands-on, practical training that supports the knowledge and skills needed for medical assistant certification and employment,” Nixon said. “Students are able to see how the human body works through utilization of the Anatomage Table.” Nixon lauded the JET grant for the hands-on experience the new equipment offers to her 32 students. “The Anatomage Table provides a vast amount of information on every system in the human body and has real-life cadavers for intense visual learning,” the nurse said. “The mannequins provide students with the ability to assess and diagnose patient diseases or illnesses through teacher-created simulations. Students can take the knowledge they have acquired and use it in other health science fields as well.”
According to Nixon, the grant substantially increases the number of health science careers available to her students. “They can go into various health science fields with the knowledge they are obtaining,” she said. “When they finish my classes, they will be able to take the national exam for Certified Medical Assistant. If they want to continue their education, there are numerous medical fields that they can utilize the information learned from our classes -- for example, nursing, radiology, nursing assistant, physician, biologist, medical coder, medical transcriptionist, etc.”
The JET grant provides a unique experience for its students. “Through the TWC JET grant, Lometa ISD has launched a medical program that offers hands-on technologies few students experience outside a university setting,” Moore said. “Students are working with the Anatomage full-body surgical simulation and dissection table, several life-size human mannequin simulators and other emerging medical technologies.” Lometa Superintendent Maela Edmonson also noted the potential benefits students will gain from the JET grant. “I feel this is unique to a small district. It’s just one more way we are offering excellence in education for our students,” Edmonson said. “The JET grant has allowed Lometa ISD to put in place a medical career pathway for our students.”
Photo: Lometa medical teacher Valarie Nixon works with students on the Anatomage Table the district purchased with funds from a Texas Workforce Jobs and Education for Texans Grant. Pictured are, from left to right, Nixon, Tepekos Bowers, Amy Padron, and Sophie Anguiano.
Article & Photo Credit: Lampasas Dispatch Record