WILMINGTON, N.C. — A new program is coming to Cape Fear Community College. It’s one of the first of its kind in the Tar Heel State, and one that’s desperately needed.
What You Need To Know
Cape Fear Community College will begin a new Medical Lab Technology Program in August
This program is among the first of its kind in the country and was born out of a need for medical lab technicians and a partnership with Novant Health, Wilmington Health and other area hospitals
This program will make graduates eligible to take the American Society for Clinical Pathology certification and work in laboratories in hospitals, medical offices and research offices
The school will begin a new Medical Lab Technology Program in August. This program is among the first of its kind in the country and was born out of a need for medical lab technicians and a partnership with Novant Health, Wilmington Health and other area hospitals.
Dean of Health and Sciences at Cape Fear Community College Mary Ellen Naylor says the new program will open up doors of opportunity for their students.
“This is a program where graduates will be able to work in a hospital lab, a physician's office, research independent labs,” Naylor said. “And really, they will be responsible for kind of processing, collecting, analyzing laboratory specimens and working in really all aspects of the lab including chemistry, hematology, microbiology, blood bank, so they really become an integral part of the patient's health care.”
It’s also a program that was born out of necessity. That need comes from an increase in demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of medical providers expected to retire in the near future and local health care services needing to grow their teams of lab techs.
“Although we at Novant Health have not been immune to the challenges of finding health care professionals,” said Kevin Briggs, an administrator at Novant Health in Wilmington. “We have been very creative and working closely with our partner organizations to go a bit upstream and really look at what type of efforts can we take today or put in place today that will help us to overcome these challenges in the future.”
Briggs said that students will benefit from the partnership between CFCC and area hospitals like Novant Health, where they will be allowed to train in state-of-the-art laboratories for hands-on experience and top-notch skills.
The program also has potential to open the doors for other community colleges in the state.
“We think that this program actually has an opportunity to influence other areas,” Briggs said. “Once we track it over time just to see the benefit that this can bring as far as providing more of a supply of health care professionals to meet the demand that continues to grow.”
For now, CFCC is proud to be able to serve the community’s health care needs.
“The Health and Human Services Division here at Cape Fear wants to make sure that we’re addressing the health care needs of our region and making sure that we have those educational opportunities to put students in those professions that are going to help meet that health force development need,” Naylor said.
The application period for the program begins February 15 and the deadline is May 15.
You can learn more about the program here.