RVCC & Valley Regional Hospital Launch LNA Apprenticeship Program

Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, a member of Dartmouth Health, launched NH’s first LNA Registered Apprenticeship program for high school students in collaboration with River Valley Community College (RVCC) and ApprenticeshipNH, creating a pathway to essential healthcare careers.

ApprenticeshipNH, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and through Training Administration grants, is a workforce training program of CCSNH. It aims to promote Registered Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs in various industries statewide.

Applicants to the LNA apprenticeship program participated in a competitive selection process. Successful candidates were hired as Valley Regional Hospital employees. The apprenticeship included classroom work, clinical lab simulation at the community college, and clinical rotations at Valley Regional Hospital. The 8-week program culminated with a licensing exam with a 100% successful pass rate for all students.

Mary Ann Gaschnig, part of the ApprenticeshipNH team, says partnering with Valley Regional Hospital, RVCC, and local high schools will provide an essential healthcare career pathway in the region. “We look forward to our continued collaboration in providing workforce development opportunities in healthcare and other industry sectors,” she says. “This program gets their foot in the door and helps launch them into careers in healthcare.”

For more information visit ApprenticeshipNH.com.

NCC Early College Student Graduates High School Two Credits Away from a Mathematics Degree

Early College opportunities enable NH students to earn college credits while still in high school. Cora, a homeschool student from Brookline, has been an Early College student at Nashua Community College since Fall 2022. Cora chose to take courses at NCC in order to access higher level math courses.

Cora graduated high school last spring. Now 18 years old, she is only two courses away from graduating from college NCC with an associate degree in Mathematics, a milestone she will achieve this May.

“I’ve always enjoyed math, and I knew I wanted to do something math related. I’ll finish my math degree here, and probably do a bachelor’s degree in math and then a master’s in meteorology, or something else math related.”

So far, she’s got her sights set on completing her bachelor’s in New Hampshire, and is leaning toward Plymouth State University.

Early College students can choose online or in-person classes, and Cora took a mix of both. High-school aged students can take up to two Early College courses per academic year for free through the Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Scholarship program funded by the state of New Hampshire. Cora was able to use the scholarship toward her Early College classes. 

Cora’s advice for high school students considering Early College is to “go for it!”

“It really helps you get better and understand what it’s like going to a four-year college without having to take that full class load to start with. I definitely recommend this experience to anyone, I think the community colleges are such great places.”

GBCC Marks 10-Year Anniversary of Medical Assistant Program Created to Meet Needs in the Seacoast Area

In 2015, a healthcare workforce crisis was gathering steam in New Hampshire. Hospitals and medical practices were struggling to fill positions for medical assistants and other entry-level jobs. To address this shortage, Great Bay Community College (GBCC) launched the first Medical Assistant (MA) workforce training program in New Hampshire’s community college system.

A decade later, GBCC’s MA program remains a vital conduit to provide a workforce for healthcare providers in the Seacoast region. Aside from the pandemic years, GBCC has consistently offered four MA training sessions annually, graduating 344 students with Medical Assistant Certification. Students completing the program have a 100% pass rate for the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) national examination, a rate well above the national average.

Developed in partnership with Core Physicians and Wentworth-Douglass Physician Corp, GBCC’s program fast-tracks training in an intensive 12-week sprint. Eight weeks of classroom instruction totaling 320 hours is followed by 160-hour externships at local medical offices. The result is well-educated and skilled healthcare professionals to fill critical roles across the region.