Mountain Empire Community College Press Release

Press Release
MECC • 3441 Mountain Empire Road • Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Phone 276-523-7480 • Fax 276-523-7430
E-mail: sfisher@me.vccs.edu

Angel Dockery from Gate City, Debra Jernigan from Clinchport, and Sonya Fee from Rose Hill have just shown that distance is no longer a barrier to becoming a medical laboratory technician and getting a good job.

Here was their dilemma. They wanted to work in the health field and knew medical laboratory technicians have great job opportunities with good pay. But the closest college with this program in Virginia was in Wytheville, a two or three hour drive.

Now, that has all changed with an innovative, cooperative arrangement between Mountain Empire Community College (MECC) and Wytheville Community College (WCC).

Students living in the far end of southwest Virginia can enroll at MECC for their general education classes, which are part of the Associate of Applied Science degree, and enroll with WCC for their health courses. However, all of the health courses are taught on the MECC campus and the clinicals taken at local health facilities, thus eliminating the need for long-distance travel.

Their degree was granted in May by WCC, which is approved by the National Accrediting Agency of Clinical Laboratory Science, making them eligible to sit for the national certification examination for registration as a Medical Laboratory Technician.

All three graduates immediately had multiple job offers and have already accepted positions.

The medical laboratory technician program is one of several new cooperative agreements that MECC has established to increase opportunities for local residents to be trained in a variety of health careers.

"Job opportunities in all areas of health care are increasing," says Ross Santell, Dean of MECC’s Health Science and Industrial Technology Division, "but starting up and maintaining health programs are often cost prohibitive." "By partnering with our sister colleges in Virginia, we can also offer opportunities for associate degrees in physical therapy, occupational therapy, radiology, and funeral director/embalmer."

For more information on any of these health careers, contact Kim Dorton at kdorton@me.vccs.edu or call 276-523-7465.

Angel Dockery, Debra Jernigan and Sonya Fee (seated in first row) are the first medical laboratory technician graduates of MECC’s new cooperative program with Wytheville Community College. MECC administrators who developed this agreement are (standing l to r) Ross Santell, Dean of Health Science and Industrial Technology; Richard Phillips, Vice-President of Academic and Student Services; Kim Dorton, Coordinator of Health Programs; and President Terrance Suarez.