Employment opportunities already abound in both radiography and practical nursing fields. Radiography is a two-year program, and practical nursing takes one calendar year. Completion of both lead to certification or licensing. Licensed Practical Nursing is in its second semester of being offered at VGCC, and the first class will graduate in August. Nursing classroom work is done on VGCC's main campus between Henderson and Oxford, along with the teaching of courses such as English, psychology and biology.
Clinical training is performed in hospitals throughout the area.
Program officials said more than 250 LPNs will be needed in the Butner area alone in the next five years. Radiographers are trained to perform all types of images of the body to help detect ailments and illnesses. They work in hospitals, clinics, physicians' offices, government agencies and industry. Radiography is an associate degree program taught at the main campus and at South Campus in Granville County. Hands-on clinical experience is provided at nine area hospitals in the Triangle, Vance, Granville and Franklin counties, and in southern Virginia.