Career center to offer evening LPN classes

Prospective students must take a pre-admission test scheduled for Tuesday.
By HAROLD GWIN
Vindicator education writer
LORDSTOWN -- Requests for more convenient class schedules has prompted the Trumbull Career and Technical Center to offer an evening Licensed Practical Nursing program.
Classes will start in February at the center's Adult Training Center here.
The center already offers a one-year, full-time, daytime LPN program but was getting a lot of calls from people who work and wanted classes they could fit into their schedules, said Linda Reader, the center's practical-nursing coordinator.
The center secured a $65,000 grant from the Ohio Board of Nursing to expand its offerings to include a nighttime LPN program. Reader said the money will be used to partially pay instructors' salaries over two years and to buy new equipment, including a computerized IV Start Simulator to be used in training students how to perform intravenous procedures on patients.
Details on classes
The center has hired seven part-time instructors. Classes, which begin Feb. 22, will meet from 4:45 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with a 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. clinical session scheduled once each month, Reader said.
The schedule allows people to attend class on a part-time basis, completing the program in two years, said Terry Shifflet, center spokeswoman.
The cost is $8,150, the same fee charged for the full-time program, she said.
Reader said the starting salary for LPNs in this area ranges from $15 to $17 an hour in hospitals and nursing homes.
Program applicants must complete some admission criteria, including taking a standardized test, before being accepted. Reader said the last test for the class that begins Feb. 22 is set for Tuesday. Applicants can register to take the test through Monday. There is a $35 testing fee.
Class size is limited to 38 students, and the center initially intends to run only one evening program every two years, Reader said.
Practical nursing shows up consistently in lists compiled by the government of occupations with expectations of higher-than-average job growth in both Ohio and Mahoning Valley statistics, Shifflet said.
Financial aid is available for students who qualify for the program. For more information, call (330) 824-2588.
gwin@vindy.com