More students opting for health-care training

As more Baby Boomers reach retirement age, an increasing number of students are seeking health-care-specific training to work in the growing field, education officials in the Toledo area reported this week.

Mercy College reported record enrollment this fall as its student head count rose to 1,104 from 962 last year, a jump of 15 percent. The school offers bachelor's and associate's degree programs.

And Davis College, which offers associate's degrees and training in health-care-specific jobs such as medical billing, said its student rolls swelled this year as more adults sought job retraining in the health-care field.

"We're getting those people who are out of work, and they're trying to support their family," said Amanda Ryan, student services assistant.

Amid persistently high unemployment, the health-care industry added 28,000 jobs in August and an average of about 20,000 jobs a month throughout 2009 and 2010, according to a report Friday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Add to that recent national health-care legislation that is likely to require more support workers in the health-care industry in the coming years.

Ohio's colleges and universities released enrollment figures Tuesday.

Some of the increases were for degree and certificate programs at various colleges offering medical technician education that are not so well-known but are in demand, such as Mercy's certificate in polysomnographic technology. Those technicians can run sleep studies.

A Mercy student also could get an associate's degree in cardiovascular technology, which trains someone how to assist a cardiologist with an exam.

Terra Community College in Fremont, which offers pharmacy technician and nurses aide programs, among other courses of study, also had record enrollment growth this fall. The community college broke through the 3,500-student mark for the first time.

Ms. Ryan said more than half of Davis' programs are specifically for job training in the health-care industry.

She said the fall enrollment of 542 is unusually large for Davis, and "huge for us." She said the college doesn't release historical enrollment figures.

Demand for a Davis education has increased as the pools of applicants for each job increase and as employers demand at least an associate's degree from applicants, she said.

"We're a little different. We get a lot of the nontraditional students," Ms. Ryan said.

Contact Christopher D. Kirkpatrick at:

ckirkpatrick@theblade.com

or 419-724-6134.