Phoebe & Albany Technical College Living & Learning Community grand opening

ALBANY, Ga. – Albany Technical College and Phoebe Putney Health System have partnered to address the nursing shortage in southwest Georgia.

Aiming to increase the number of healthcare professionals in the region, hundreds of leaders from Phoebe and Albany Technical College, along with elected officials, students, and community members, gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the phoebe living and learning community on Tuesday evening.

“Well, this event is a long time coming. We’ve been working with Phoebe for the last 30, 32 months or so, planning to expand our nursing program and adopting this particular facility. So, this Living and Learning Community is where our nursing students, our practical nursing students, and our phlebotomy students students will have their instructional classes taken here,” said Dr. Emmett Griswold, President, Albany Technical College.

“It consummated into Dr. Anthony Parker, who served on our board, and he and I had a conversation just a couple of years ago, two and a half years ago, about how we can increase the number of nurses that come out of Albany Tech and the critical nature of that for not only Phoebe but for healthcare. Within a couple of weeks, we had the concept. Within 30 days we had taken it to our boards for approval. It’s also going to help serve our community and the young people here. It is going to inspire them to get into a career that they are so needed in,” said Scott Steiner, Phoebe Putney Health System President & CEO.

The 130,000-square-foot facility on phoebe’s main campus serves as the cornerstone of the health system’s workforce development initiative.

This nearly $47 million investment is dedicated to training the next generation of healthcare professionals. The building includes a second and third floor with 80 apartments, offering students the opportunity to lease or rent accommodations while fully immersed in their educational experience.

“Georgia is 30,000 nurses short today, projected to be 70,000 nurses short in just six years. And, so, we better do something different than we’ve always done. And, that’s what this project is. It’s thinking differently. And, we’ve got today about 180 openings for nurses, plus probably the same amount in other professions. And, so, we’re looking to create those nurses in those positions. We want them to live here. We want them to go to school here. We want them to join churches and shop in our stores and go to schools. And, so, we see it as building our community,” said Steiner.

Phoebe and Albany Technical College have no plans to halt their expansion efforts anytime soon.

“This is just the starting the 250 or so students that are going to occupy this building this fall, we can double that. We can go to 500 or more. So, there’s space. We designed it for their space, but there’s other programs. Ultrasound, CT, and MRI. There’s so many other fields that we’re going to be able to expand that partnership. So, we see this as the next chapter in an exciting chapter. But, there’s much more to do,” said Steiner.

“We’re just excited about this partnership, about this event and about this facility. It is something to see as state of art equipment, state of the art faculty here that are willing to teach and help students learn and go to work at phoebe as soon as they graduate,” said Dr. Griswold.

De’Andra Jacobs reporting.

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