Beaufort Memorial Graduates First PATH Program Class

“We are so proud to celebrate our first class of PATH graduates and to welcome our second class,” said Beaufort Memorial President and CEO Russell Baxley, MHA. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to advance their careers and this program allows us to support our employees in their growth.”

The PATH Program, which also was designed to continue supporting the community's growth, is open to all Beaufort Memorial employees who aspire to grow into careers that require a certification or degree. The program will ultimately offer pathways in five career clusters: hospitality, business, support services, diagnostics/therapeutics and direct patient care.

The graduates completed coursework developed by the National Healthcareer Association, which was taught onsite by Beaufort Memorial’s clinical staff in the Education Department. The participants spent two days per week learning health care fundamentals and career-specific skills over a 12-week period. This included clinical rotations at Beaufort Memorial Hospital during the last month of the course where they put into practice the skills they’d been developing in their respective courses.

In addition to the on-site courses, the PATH Program supports employees seeking to further their education at partnered institutions for higher learning – such as USCB and TCL - through scholarships, skill labs and clinical rotations.

Funds from the Beaufort Memorial Foundation and a $700,000 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant from Beaufort County make the PATH Program possible.

“The purpose of the ARPA funds is to build a better health care system through workforce development, so that when future pandemics or medical crises arise, the system can more readily react, protect and support the health of the communities it serves,” said Beaufort County Special Projects Director Hank Amundson.

Vickey Heyward is among the first graduates. A dietary aid who has worked in the hospital’s Food and Nutrition Services department, Heyward entered the program with an eye toward phlebotomy and later realized she would like to become a patient care technician.

"We could not be more proud of our graduates," said Director of Education Joy Solomon, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, who oversees the PATH Program. "We watched the employees in this cohort embrace the opportunity to grow and enhance their career in healthcare. This courageous and determined PATH cohort navigated through the challenge of going back to school, learning patient care initiatives, conquering their test anxiety and the crippling fear of failure."

The newest group to enter the PATH Program is split nearly in half between those who will train on site to become phlebotomists, clinical medical assistants, nursing assistants, patient care technicians and electrocardiogram technicians, and those who have been accepted into nursing and other allied health care programs at the partnering institutions.