‘A win-win-win.’ New health care program allows high schoolers to earn credit from BCTC

A new health care dual enrollment program will allow high school students to earn college credit from Bluegrass Community & Technical College (BCTC) before they graduate.

The Healthcare Jumpstart Program, a partnership among Kentucky school districts, BCTC and UK HealthCare, is intended to give high schoolers the opportunity to take prerequisite courses in health care and earn transferable credit hours that apply toward both high school and college.

Should they choose to enroll at BCTC after graduation, students can earn a nursing or associate degree in health care in two years or fewer.

While the concept of dual enrollment is nothing new, Jumpstart will help expand that opportunity into health care through an accelerated program at BCTC. Not only does this save time post-graduation, but students can also save money on their college tuition by earning credit in high school.

According to BCTC’s website, a semester of courses for in-state students living on campus totals an average of $7,792, meaning the program can save high schoolers thousands of dollars as the program comes at no out-of-pocket cost to students.

UK HealthCare also offers scholarships for program graduates to continue their education at BCTC, contingent on their agreement to work for UK HealthCare for three years post-graduation.

Although the goal is to eventually open Jumpstart to other districts in Kentucky, the first and only school system to participate thus far is Garrard County. Kevin Stull, superintendent of Garrard County schools, said the program offers students a unique and accelerated opportunity to pursue careers in nursing or elsewhere in the health care field.

“Our current pathway through Garrard County High School and the Garrard Area Technology Center is very successful, but this provides an incredible set of options for our Health Science pathway students not available without the support of BCTC and UK HealthCare,” he said.

Stull said that an expected 30 seniors and 30 juniors will participate in the program this fall, although he hopes to have a cohort of 30 students from each high school class enrolled in the future.

When in full operation, Jumpstart will begin during a student’s freshman and sophomore years, during which guidance counselors will help them plan out their pathway within the program. Then, during junior and senior years, students will take dual enrollment courses covering CPR and nurse aid training, anatomy, physiology, psychology and math.

BCTC President Dr. Koffi Akakpo said Garrard County was chosen to be the flagship school district for Jumpstart due to the system’s already “well-established and successful” healthcare pathways and relatively small population size. However, he said that other counties have expressed interest in joining, especially ones near a BCTC campus.

“We have already been in conversations with several counties in our region, including Fayette County, to offer Healthcare Jumpstart, and with the Winchester Campus offering the Associate Degree in Nursing this fall, we believe there will be rapid expansion of the program to Clark, Powell and Estill counties,” he said. “We anticipate this opportunity will be attractive to many healthcare-focused high schools.”

Dr. Mark Newman, UK’s executive vice president for health affairs, said the program is intended to meet a desperate need for more healthcare professionals in the commonwealth, exacerbated by the pandemic.

Because it starts in high school, Newman said Jumpstart helps identify future health care workers early and gets them ready to start a career faster.

“We’ve known for a while, even before COVID, that we did not have enough of our … healthcare professionals,” he said. “That deficit just got larger during COVID. And so part of the goal is to bring more people into the field, to get them into the field quickly, because we still have a commitment – we’re a resource for this state.”

Doriska Austin, a health science instructor in the Garrard County school system, teaches dual credit courses in pre-nursing subjects like phlebotomy and medical terminology with BCTC. She said she wanted to be involved in Jumpstart because she has seen first-hand the dire need for healthcare professionals in Kentucky communities.

“I understand what it’s like to work in healthcare,” she said. “I have a passion and love for nursing, and I’m so happy to be able to help jump-start this program, to help students further their education, teach them the same passion that I have for nursing and just help our community that’s in need and has a shortage in nursing.”

Austin said the courses are not only taught by BCTC professors, but they also give students a hands-on experience in the lab and interacting with patients rather than simply sitting in a lecture.

Newman called the program a “win-win-win,” saying it provides a unique opportunity for all parties involved.

“I think it’s one of those nice opportunities that’s hard to poke any holes into,” Newman said. “It’s a win for the student, it’s a win for their parents, it’s a win for advancing and allowing great partnerships between the school systems, BCTC and UK HealthCare.”