Scholarships smooth path to career advancement

Kimberly Webb, Phlebotomist

By the end of the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Kimberly Webb was questioning her decision to pursue a career in health care. Despite the many challenges posed by the pandemic, Kimberly had stuck to her original plan and enrolled in North Country Community College’s Licensed Practical Nursing program — offered despite lockdowns and public health guidelines, but conducted remotely.

She completed the program and worried that online schooling had “totally killed my passion for nursing.”

Searching for a different way forward, she became a Pharmacy Technician – but soon found a lack of opportunities for advancement. Ultimately, Kimberly said, she chose to become a licensed phlebotomist – an in-demand career in health care where individuals are trained and certified to draw and prepare blood for medical testing, transfusions and donations.

“Being a pharmacy tech, I liked the behind-the-scenes work, but I couldn’t do more.” said Kimberly. “As a phlebotomist, I’m in the Emergency Department a lot and face-to-face with patients. It solidifies that I am on the right track.”

Earlier this year, Kimberly decided to advance her healthcare career yet again – choosing to pursue certification as a Medical Lab Technician through a two-year program that begins in January 2024. One of the many questions she needed to answer: how would she pay for more schooling?

While it won’t cover all the costs associated with Kimberly’s pursuit of MLT certification, Alice Hyde’s Workforce Development Scholarship program did award her $2,500 to help defray the cost of the program.

“As an MLT, I’ll still be helping people just as much – I just won’t be face-to-face with them twenty-four-seven,” she said. “The scholarship is definitely helping – it’s benefitting Alice Hyde and me. I was going to have to take out a loan to do this work, and now I don’t have to. And at the end of the program, I’ll be move valuable to the hospital and to our community.”