Expanding its role as a health career higher education center, the Mesa Community College Red Mountain campus has added a Licensed Professional Nurse (LPN) program as well as a Patient Care Technician and Behavioral Health Technician courses. The new health care academic opportunities are part of the expanding Health Sciences Division, which includes careers in Dental, Emergency Medical Technology, Health Care Technology Systems, Nursing, and Paramedicine.
Mary Boyce, dean of health sciences, says the training programs, degrees, and certificates reflect jobs that are in demand in the health care industry. Facing dramatic nursing shortages, community partners such as Banner Health and the Ensign Group shared their need for LPNs, which require a year of classes. That is a significantly shorter time of study than for registered nurses.
The Acacia Village building on the Red Mountain campus is being renovated to accommodate increasing health care education options, including the LPN training, which is scheduled to begin fall 2023. However, Dean Boyce points out that students should register throughout fall 2022 for the six-week Nurse Assisting course, which is required before they can register for the LPN or RN programs.
Kathleen Mead, program coordinator of the Nursing Assistant program, says that the NA course, which prepares students to become a Certified Nurse Assistant or a Licensed Nurse Assistant (LNA), is one of a number of programs and classes that can provide immediate employment possibilities or can lead to pursuing a nursing degree.
“Our goal in offering the Nurse Assisting and several other new courses is a strategy to help students be successful when they enter the RN program,” Kathleen explains. “There are so many tasks to learn as well as the academic and science knowledge. Starting slowly makes it less overwhelming. We have added a Patient Care Technician course that meets once a week for eight weeks where students learn procedures and tasks to become Patient Care Assistants — also in demand at hospitals.”
The four-week Psychiatric Technician Overview class offers techniques and skills to care for patients with a variety of mental illnesses, including anxiety, mood, personality, and psychotic disorders, as well as posttraumatic stress syndrome and behavioral issues. No prerequisites are required to students studying health care, psychology, law enforcement, or any profession dealing with potential patient crisis management situations.
If you have questions about the health care programs, please contact Dean Mary Boyce at mary.boyce@mesacc.edu or Kathleen Mead at kathleen.mead@mesacc.edu.
As the Red Mountain campus grows its Allied Health Department, it continues its 20-plus year legacy of providing the East Valley convenient, affordable, quality classes in English, science, math, history, languages, and community fitness courses.
Stop by the Red Mountain campus Enrollment Center in the Mesquite building to find out more, or call (480) 654-7600.