Oxford, Miss., June 14, 2002 - A grant from the Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation allowed Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi and Baptist Memorial Hospital-Union County to give a $100,000 grant to Northwest Mississippi Community College.

The grant will help the college reinstate its associate degree program for surgical technicians.

The influx of surgical techs will help ease the health care worker shortage in this area

dents who finish the program will have the skills necessary to work in any hospital operating room.

Surgical technicians assist surgeons in the operating room, setting up and maintaining a sterile environment and passing appropriate instruments to physicians during surgery. They must know the names and purposes of surgical instruments, anatomy and physiology, the principles of sterilization and how to sterilize instruments.

The program combines classroom instruction with hands-on learning, allowing students to complete clinical rotations at a local hospital and take classes in concepts of sterilization, anatomy and physiology and other subjects.

After finishing one year in the program, students receive a certificate of completion. Students who want to earn an associate degree can take another year of core classes in English, math and other basic subjects.

The program’s goals are to graduate eight to 10 students a year and to have the program reinstated permanently.

Baptist North Mississippi’s chief nursing officer and director of perioperative services will serve as advisors for the program. In that role, they will review the curriculum annually and evaluate the progress of the program and students quarterly to ensure goals are being met.

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