Training for today's medical market

It's a family affair at Medical Training Classes Technical Institute (MTC), although the only true blood relations are those found in their phlebotomy lab.

Vanessa Guy is the owner, director and one of the school's 15 instructors. She says instructors and students "feel like family," encouraging and helping each other through MTC's programs.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov), 10 of the 20 fastest-growing occupations are health-care related. Health care will generate 3.2 million new jobs between 2008 and 2018, more than any other industry. Most workers have jobs that require less than four years of college education.

MTC is a state-licensed school providing medical support training and is an independent ASHI (American Safety and Health Institute) Authorized Training Center.

Current programs include certification or re-certification in: CPR/AED, nursing assistant, basic life support, home health aid, EKG technician, first aid, baby-sitting and child care safety, pet first aid/ CPR, medical billing and coding, medical assistant, phlebotomy and blood borne pathogens.

Guy is a certified medical assistant, phlebotomist, EKG technician, health care instructor and has studied health care for many years.

"We're here to see people succeed," she said. "We're so much more than bookwork. We're about communication, touching and doing. Instructors demonstrate and then students do the work.

"While the curriculum we use is the same statewide, it's how you pass it along to your students that makes the difference." Guy added. "Our classes include guest lecturers, field trips and having students go out and interview local healthcare workers."

Guy said her philosophies about individual attention stem from personal experiences as a student.

"I didn't like being 'just a number' in a class with 35 others, with an instructor who had us read three chapters then dismissed us," she said. "I was working full time and raced to class to do what I could have done at home."

MTC classes are limited to no more than 10 students per instructor.

Guy said she does everything possible to create an instructor and student-friendly environment. Instructor-only areas include exercise and break rooms where they can work out, munch out or just chill out.

For students there's a "BYOB" (bring your own babysitter) childcare area.

"They just need to bring their own sitter. We don't provide childcare staff," added Guy.

Classrooms include: a mock doctor's office, exam room, phlebotomy lab, rooms for teaching child sitting and safety, pet CPR, billing and coding, conventional CPR, a library, computer labs, nursing assistant lab, EKG lab and a testing room where, for national certifications, those taking the tests are watched by a proctor via two-way mirror.

There walls sport photos of students and instructors, inspirational plaques and medical charts. A school store offers new and used scrubs and medical accessories at discounted prices.

Guy keeps her tuitions as low as possible.

"I know how hard it is for some students to pay for an education and I want to see them succeed," she said.

In addition to Pasco-Hernando Community College, MTC is the only other licensed school in Hernando County that is strictly medical and solely based in Hernando County.

The MTC campus occupies 20,000 square feet on Broad Street near the Family Dollar store.

Local physician Dr. G. Malhotra acts as MTC's medical director. Area doctor's offices and businesses support MTC with donations of time, equipment and/or materials, including Dr. Townsend, Dr. Soliman, Access Medical, Brooksville Regional Hospital, Brooksville Fire Department, Forest Oaks Care Center, Spring Oaks ALF, Cheryl's Care Inc., Jericho Road Ministries and others.

MTC invites community members to be guest lecturers.

"We've had many generous contributions," added Guy. "Our students come from our community and when they complete their training, we would like to see them helping our local medical community."

The school is currently offering tuition scholarships.

A total of $3,200 in scholarships will be awarded based on a 1,500-word essay, "Why I want to go back to school to be a nursing assistant" and "Why I want to go back to school to be a phlebotomist." Typed essays must be submitted by June 1, 2010, via U.S. mail and will be judged by instructors and an advisory board.

There will be two winners (one male and one female) in each category. Scholarships do not include books, uniforms, supplies, state board fees or any additional classes needed to complete a course.

The current MTC student body includes about 60 men and women ranging in age from 18 to their mid-60s. The school offers day and evening courses on weekdays and weekends.

MTC works with Career Central to help prospective students obtain available funding and to determine what area of medical specialty best suits them. Guy said she interacts with her instructors regularly to ensure they maintain the school's standards and that they are personally satisfied with their work at MTC.