Centralia College to celebrate expanded healthcare programs

Centralia College is expanding career opportunities for students and strengthening the region’s healthcare workforce with the addition of new healthcare training programs, announced a news release from the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce and the college

The community is invited to join Centralia College and the chamber for a ribbon-cutting and Allied Health open house at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Southwest Washington Flexible Training (SWFT) Center at 807 W. Pear St., Centralia.

The open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony will provide community members, local employers, prospective students, chamber members, educators and healthcare professionals an opportunity to tour the facility, learn more about the college’s Allied Health programs, and see firsthand how Centralia College is preparing students for healthcare careers, the release stated.

This fall, Centralia College is launching two new healthcare programs – massage therapy and medical billing and coding.

In addition, the college also expanded its longstanding medical assistant program by adding certification in both EKG and phlebotomy, and developing a one-year certificate option for students who need to enter the workforce more quickly.

The new programs expand Centralia College’s selection of affordable, hands-on healthcare training opportunities, the release stated.

Centralia College’s Allied Health programs include registered nursing, nursing assistant, emergency medical technician, medical billing and coding, massage therapy and medical assistant.

Through Washington state Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) grant funding, Centralia College was able to expand its healthcare programs while also relocating all but nursing to the SWFT Center over the summer.

Support from Perkins funding and the Centralia College Foundation has also played an important role in making these moves possible.

“Having all of these programs in one building allows us to create better-integrated healthcare training opportunities,” Medical Assistant Professor T. Mallow Layton said in the release. “Students can learn alongside other healthcare disciplines and gain a better understanding of how those different roles work together to care for patients.”