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CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Regional nonpro t InterLink partners with local CTE programs to forecast employment recovery and growth. Below is their list of some of the most in- demand health care jobs in the North Central Region and their salary ranges. Starting pay Experienced pay Job title
saving a life is,” he said. “It was just so eye-opening. It made me realize that I love critical care.” Grossman is now majoring in nursing at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, but he credits his time in RISD’s Career and Technical Education, or CTE, courses at JJ Pearce High School with solidifying his desire to become a health care professional. The nearly 1,100 students projected to be part of RISD’s Healthcare Careers Academy in the fall will take dual-credit courses from ninth to 12th grade for the chance to earn up to 16 hours of college credit through the district’s partnershipwithDallas College, CTE Executive Director Sari S. McCoy said. All stu- dents who complete the four-year program receive a Patient Care Technician Level 1 award, she said. They can also earn ve other certi cations and awards. “Our desire is to equip students with as many tools and as much knowledge and technical skills that are necessary for them to gain employment right away,” McCoy said. “If they continue on to a two-year col- lege or four-year university—or if they just choose to enter the workforce immediately and remain there for a little while—they are fully prepared.” Providingapathway RISD students can take medical terminology, the Level 1 CTE course, at Parkhill Junior High and West- wood Junior High. Those interested in learning more about medicine and jobs related to the eld can then enter the Healthcare Careers Academy at any of the district’s four high schools in ninth grade. Students in ninth and 10th grades take core courses and prerequisites at their home campuses, while 11th and 12th graders split their time between being on campus and taking classes at the Methodist Richard- son Campus for Continuing Care, which is a special- ized hospital that o ers limited services. McCoy said they also get hands-on experience at Methodist Rich- ardson, which is a full-service hospital located o the President George Bush Turnpike. Having students trained at Methodist Richard- son is also bene cial for the hospital, President Ken Hutchenrider said. Some of the students who have gone through the program have been subsequently hired as employees, he added. “We want to make sure that the students get the absolute best exposure to health care,” Hutchenrider
said. “Anything we can do to bring back our home- grown talent, I think that’s so important.” After high school, local students do not have to travel far to continue their pursuit of a health care education. In addition to the o erings at Dallas Col- lege and Collin College, students can also study nurs- ing at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology campus in Richardson. Another option will be West Coast University, which plans to o er a nursing pro- gram at its Richardson campus opening in August. Interest in the nursing program at The Chicago School has risen since being added last year, espe- cially among students from Richardson, according to Associate Dean Tonya Sawyer-McGee. “[Our Richardson campus] is a great central loca- tion for individuals who live in this area,” she said. Gainingexperience While McCoy said some RISD graduates are able to continue their health care careers as patient tech- nicians right out of high school, there are also many who go to nursing school or enroll in pre-med courses at universities. The district is also speaking with Dallas College about adding pathways for students within the health care academy, McCoy added. After graduating fromRichardson High this spring, Salma Moussaid plans to attend Texas Woman’s University to major in nursing. While she said the hands-on experience she gained from the acad- emy program was initially “terrifying,” it ultimately reinforced her desire to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. “The [academy] had a lot of classes to really pre- pare you,” Moussaid said. “It de nitely was worth it and very helpful.” The pursuit of a health care profession is often sparked by an early love of science, according to McDermott Scholar Yilong Peng, who graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas in May. Sometimes that love evolves, as McDermott Scholar Patrick Nnoromele learned as a high school sophomore in Kentucky when his father was diag- nosed with early onset dementia. “During my college career, I set my sights on pur- suing both research and clinical research opportuni- ties,” said Nnoromele, a rising neuroscience senior at UT Dallas. “And I found out that I loved medicine.”
POST HIGH SCHOOL CERTIFICATION
Medical assistants Medical records and health information technicians Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses
$40,133
$67,701
$24,937
$44,114
$26,555
$69,613
$21,129
$37,994
Nursing assistants
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA OR EQUIVALENT
$46,898
$22,429
Pharmacy technicians
ASSOCIATE DEGREE
$48,414
$79,423
Respiratory therapists Medical clinical laboratory technologists and technicians Radiologic technologists BACHELOR’S DEGREE
$31,245
$82,255
$30,387
$47,524
$53,543
$100,076
Registered nurses
MASTER’S DEGREE
Mental health and substance abuse social workers
$25,184
$66,964
Law Offices of Dana D. Huffman, P.C. BERKNER HIGH STEPHEN F. AUSTIN TEXAS WESELYAN LAW 26 YEARS IN PRACTICE ESTATE PLANNING • PROBATE • MEDIATION CIVIL/FAMILY/CPS • ARBITRATION SPRING INTO ACTION WITH ESTATE PLANNING! SOURCES: EMSI, TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, REGIONAL EMPLOYERS, INTERLINK BOARD AND TASK FORCES COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER Need for health careworkers The coronavirus pandemic disrupted some of the learning opportunities for students in RISD, but it also deteriorated the pipeline of workers joining the health care eld, according to Hutchenrider. Some people decided to move away from direct patient care and nursing after working during the pandemic,
CONTACT OUR OFFICE ABOUT REVOCABLE TRANSFER ON DEATH DEEDS
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