Training center aids area residents

When the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. Board added a training center project to its strategic plan, little did its organizers know the direction it would take or the success the project would have. We applaud the efforts to raise the skill level of area residents and create opportunities for them to get better-paying jobs.

Instead of organizing training in the manufacturing field, the immediate need turned out to be in the medical field. The Medical Leaders Roundtable, made up of medical personnel from the college and community, was formed. This group of working professionals figured out what specific training was needed and designed the curriculum.

The first class was hands-on skills training for those wanting to become certified nursing assistants. Now, more than 100 students have passed the state CNA test, upped their skills and raised their salaries. Those CNAs have gone to work at medical facilities throughout the region and the skills training class has become a model for the state.

But the Medical Leaders Roundtable wasn’t finished. Another class has been organized. This one trains certified medication assistants. The CMA class entails far more detailed medication information and training, so it takes 40 hours instead of 18 and it costs more. The class is in session at this time at the James Valley Career and Technology Center. Ten students are learning about the myriad of medications available and administered in skilled-care facilities.

And still the Medical Leaders Roundtable continues to look ahead at potential classes to fill other needs for trained medical personnel.

The roundtable members and Lisa Hicks, the JSDC administrative program coordinator, are to be commended for their ingenuity, cooperation and willingness to take the time to organize these classes. It meets a need and raises the skill level as well as the salaries of area residents.

Those skills will continue to be sorely needed as the population ages and needs more medical services. It may sound trite, but we say “keep up the good work.”