COM M U N I T Y
BY: SHARLA BARDIN
Health Care Training
Moore Norman Technology Center Offers Health Care Programs
S
ammie Kimmel and Francine Johnson know professionally and personally how vocational education can change students’ lives.
workers,” Kimmel said, who works with short-term health programs for adults. “You have a guarantee lifetime of employment and that is huge.”
The two are registered nurses who oversee some of the health programs at Moore Norman Technology Center. They also got their start in the health care field through the CareerTech system, which provides programs for individuals seeking career and technology education.
Johnson said job availability and the opportunity to help people are other incentives to pursue the field.
“That really changed the direction of my life,” Kimmel said. “CareerTech has been amazing in my life.” Kimmel and Johnson also are hoping to inspire individuals to pursue careers in health care, especially since it’s a field with a growing demand for employees. A 2018 report found that the United States will need to hire 2.3 million new health care workers by 2025 to take care of the aging population, according to CNN. “There’s always a need for health care 16 | March 2020
“If you have a heart for compassion for others, it will be very rewarding to you for your entire life,” Johnson said. The two said that the health care profession offers a variety of jobs, and Moore Norman Technology Center provides courses that can accommodate different schedules for students, such as shortterm or long-term courses or online classes FlexTrack health classes are another opportunity, Johnson said. They feature a self-paced schedule that meets the learners’ needs. Short-term health classes the center offers include medical coding and billing as well as first aid and CPR. The program also offers training for certified
