Education

For students in Hays County considering a career in healthcare, more training opportunities are on the way closer to home.

Austin Community College District broke ground Sept. 22 on a new Healthcare Professions Building at its Hays Campus, an expansion designed to serve 900 to 1,000 students at full capacity and help prepare more workers for healthcare jobs across Kyle, Hays County and the broader Central Texas region.

The project is being funded through ACC’s 2022 General Obligation Bond and will expand the college’s healthcare education and clinical training capacity in the southern portion of its district. Along with the new building, the project includes infrastructure improvements intended to support continued growth at the Hays Campus.

More Healthcare Training Coming to Hays County

The new ACC Hays Campus healthcare building will support programs including nursing, dental hygiene, sonography, surgical technology and radiological technology, along with other healthcare professions.

The expansion is significant for a region where population growth is adding to the need for healthcare services and the people trained to provide them. ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart said healthcare is one of three major areas of workforce need in Central Texas, alongside infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.

“When you look at the job needs in Central Texas, they’re really in three areas: infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare,” Lowery-Hart said. “We are intentionally rethinking our spaces to solve for all three of those issues. This building focuses on healthcare, and Hays will help us double our healthcare programs to meet healthcare needs—not just in Kyle, but in Hays County and Central Texas.”

For Hays County residents, the expansion also means more students may be able to pursue specialized healthcare education without traveling as far to reach programs, labs and clinical training spaces elsewhere in the ACC district.

A Building Designed Around Healthcare Students

Healthcare education requires more than traditional classrooms. Students must learn technical skills, complete clinical requirements and practice procedures in environments that prepare them for the demands of working with patients.

The new facility is being designed with dedicated simulation and laboratory spaces that can bring more of those experiences together in one location.

“Healthcare is very complex. It is very high-pressure. We are intentional about creating a space designed specifically for healthcare professional students that we anticipate will meet their needs. It will offer diverse learning experiences,” said Dr. Tiffany Ricks, ACC Dean of Nursing. “Our students have clinical requirements that they have to adhere to, so we have dedicated simulation spaces and lab spaces. We are excited to house all of that in one place so students don’t have to go clear across campus to access those areas.”

The building is also designed to meet LEED Silver certification standards, adding sustainability considerations to a project intended to accommodate the college’s long-term growth in southern Central Texas.

Preparing for Central Texas' Growing Healthcare Needs

ACC already has a substantial healthcare education footprint. Its School of Health Sciences and School of Nursing offer more than 15 degree programs and are serving more than 3,400 students this fall, according to the college. Programs are currently offered across ACC’s Eastview, Round Rock, Elgin and Highland campuses.

Those students prepare for careers that include nursing, dental hygiene, diagnostic imaging, surgical technology and emergency medical services. Expanding that training at the Hays Campus could create another pathway into those professions for students living in and around Kyle and other Hays County communities.

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini connected that workforce mission to the region’s continued population growth.

“It’s an investment in our students, which is also celebrating the future and our belief that the role of a community college not only involves teaching and learning, but especially involves preparing students for a workforce,” Zaffirini said. “As you who live in this growing community, in this growing region of the state, understand that as the population grows, so do health care needs. So the students who will come here as we celebrate this groundbreaking will absolutely be prepared for a better future and to better care for their families.”

For Students, the Opportunity Starts Closer to Home

Behind the enrollment numbers and workforce projections are students deciding what comes next after high school and how to turn an interest in healthcare into a career.

Liliana Flores, a Central Texas Healthcare Academy student, said she is working to build the foundation she will need to enter the field.

“I am trying to build my basic healthcare knowledge and get a good start on a career,” Flores said. “More trained workers are needed in the healthcare field. There are always more people needing care, and costs are always going up, so they need people to help with that.”

That connection between local students and local workforce needs is at the center of the Hays Campus project. As Hays County and Central Texas continue to grow, ACC’s expansion is intended to give more students access to healthcare career training while increasing the pipeline of trained workers available to hospitals, clinics and other healthcare employers across the region.

More information about ACC’s School of Health Sciences and School of Nursing is available through the college’s academic programs website. Details about the 2022 General Obligation Bond and other ACC bond projects are available at austincc.edu/bond.

Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for updates on the ACC Hays Campus expansion and other education and workforce developments affecting Hays County communities.

By Tiffany Krenek, My Neighborhood News 

Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region..

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