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May 23, 2017SUNY Schenectady County Community College Honors Healthcare Students at Special Graduation Ceremony, 5/23
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017, SUNY Schenectady County Community College (SUNY SCCC) and its partner agencies will celebrate students who have completed high-demand healthcare training offered through the SUNY SCCC Office of Workforce Development and Community Education. Dr. Thomas Gamble, President of Maria College, will deliver the keynote address as 212 students are recognized. The ceremony will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the Carl B. Taylor Auditorium, located in the Begley Building on the SUNY SCCC campus.
The students are all graduates of the Allied Health Care Training program, supported by the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) project and Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), both federally-funded and designed to assist low-income individuals with training that enables them to enter careers in the healthcare industry.
SUNY SCCC is part of, and serves as the lead agency for, a consortium known as Upstate Partnership for Healthcare Pathways (UPHP), also comprised of Albany Community Action Partnership (ACAP), Fulton Montgomery Community College (FMCC) Schenectady Community Action Program (SCAP) and SUNY Adirondack Community College (SUNY ACC). Since training began in March 2016, more than 250 SUNY SCCC students have enrolled. 212 have completed the program (83 percent completion) and more than 160 have found employment to date. At the ceremony, Nicole Hunter and Annette Kuykendall, two recent graduates, will share their experiences about the impact that the healthcare training program had on their lives.
“Once again, I have the pleasure of being able to say how very proud I am of our students at SUNY SCCC, and all that they have worked so hard to accomplish,” said Dr. Steady Moono, SUNY SCCC President. “Each of the students graduating from the Allied Health Care Training program is talented, and destined for a great career helping people and saving lives.”
“These students have proven their commitment to providing exceptional healthcare, and we’re thrilled to know that they leave us today with fulfilling careers ahead,” said Denise Zieske, Vice President of Workforce Development and Community Education.
“We’ve seen lives transformed by this program,” said Dr. Tiziana Rota, Program Director. “People are achieving success in the classroom and finding fulfilling jobs that build a better life for themselves and their families.” Under the HPOG program grant, students are provided with training, uniforms, childcare, bus transportation and job placement assistance.
Students have been placed in healthcare jobs in settings ranging from hospitals to nursing facilities, as well as home healthcare organizations. Many have gone on to pursue higher education in nursing or LPN programs.
The College offers training for Certified Nurse Aide (CNA), Personal Care Assistants (PCA), and Home Health Aide (HHA), Community Health Worker, Phlebotomy and EKG at the Center City location in downtown Schenectady, as well as at the College’s extension site in downtown Albany. Students gain hands-on training in patient care and hospital and home health care services in classroom, lab and healthcare facility training. The program is unique in the partnerships it has established with community action agencies in both Schenectady and Albany counties (Albany Community Action Partnership, and Schenectady Community Action Program) and healthcare providers throughout the Capital District.
