Several health care training programs have been scratched from the Alaska Institute of Technology offerings, with the closure on Aug. 15 of AVTEC’s Anchorage campus, the site of its Allied Health program.
The closure, the latest of many changes in state government programs due to the fiscal crisis brought on by low oil prices, eliminated AVTEC’s certified nursing assistant and medical assistant programs.
The registered nurse program was shut down after the last cohort graduated in April 2015, and the licensed practical nurse program ended when its last cohort graduated in November 2015.
Alaska Labor commissioner Heidi Drygas said the department and AVTEC budgets have seen big cuts in the past couple of years and the department is simply not able to keep the Anchorage campus open.
AVTEC’s Allied Health program typically served 100 certified nursing assistant candidates annually, and 30 Alaskans were on the wait list for the LPN program. Last year 79 residents completed a Health Care Academy course there, with introductory workshops to orient them to career options in health care.
Heather Beaty, executive director of the Alaska Workforce Investment Board, said three instructors and one admissions person were laid off with the closure.
Other courses in these fields of health care are available, including a nursing degree at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
For more course information, log on to
https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/BON_State-Approved_NA_Programs.pdf
