By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Jefferson State Community College’s Center for Workforce Education is offering three medical related classes at the Clanton campus next year.

Classes will include Clinical Medical Assistant, Dental Assistant and Medical Billing and Coding Certification Prep.

Clinical Medical Assistant class will meet Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. starting Feb. 27 and ending Aug. 10. The Dental Assistant class will last from Feb. 13 to May 10, and be held Monday 5:15 to 7:15 p.m. and the lab will be Wednesday from 5:15 to 8:15 p.m. The Medical Billing and Coding Certification prep will run from April 3 to Aug. 7. The class will meet Monday and Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Leah Collins, coordinator for career programs, said this is not the first time these classes are being offered, but the college is trying to create more interest. Collins there had been trouble said in the past getting enough students registered to cover the cost of the instructor.

The Center for Workforce Development classes do not follow a traditional college semester. Instead, classes are offered throughout the year

Dental assistant has been the most popular of the three classes in Clanton. Collins attributed this to the two dentist offices in town.

“The Medical Billing and Coding is something we would like to see take off. It has been tried in years past, so we are kind of bringing it back,” Collins said.

Each program is a part of the credentialing for the field.

In addition to providing classes needed for certification, the classes also serve as the required continuing education requirements in the fields.

The only prerequisite for registering for these classes is having a high school diploma or a GED. Some high school students are allowed to enroll in the classes if they will graduate before the class is over.

“We are all about in demand job training,” Collins said.

Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and the college’s OneStop Career Center are used to determine what classes to offer. Collins said OneStop collects data and input from 500 businesses in the geographic areas the college serves to determine demand for certain types of skills and jobs.

“On of our biggest qualities is that we offer in demand job training, and that we are very skills driven,” Collins said.

Collins said all of the classes that the Center for Workforce Education offers are related to fields that are growing faster than the average and expected to continue to do so through 2024.

“We place over 80 percent of our students based on our partnerships and how we have structured our curriculum to include that lab and on the job training,” Collins said.

Registration can be completed on the Jefferson State Community College website at http://www.jeffersonstate.edu/workforce-education-2/course-information-registration/ or by calling 205-856-7710. Collins said registration for the class is open until the day before the class starts. However, a refund for those who drop the class is only available to those who withdrew from the course 10 days before the class started.