The partnership between Lake-Sumter State College and AdventHealth continues to grow in support of health care education in Lake and Sumter counties. This week, AdventHealth Home Care moved its offices into Building M on the Leesburg Campus.
The mission of AdventHealth Home Care is to extend the healing ministry of Christ to patients in the privacy of their homes. Home care services include skilled nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapy, aide services, social work, special transport and more. AdventHealth Home Care employs 200 team members and serves 2,500 patients in Lake, Sumter and Marion counties.
“Our partnership with Lake-Sumter State College provides us with a new location for our AdventHealth Home Care on the college campus with frontage to US 441. This allows us to expand our Home Care services throughout the community,” said Abel Biri, President and CEO of AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares. “In addition, we are partnering with LSSC on a Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) on the AdventHealth Waterman campus which will provide local talent with an innovative immersive hands-on training experience for nursing students to interact directly with nursing leadership on our campus creating a direct pathway to employment.”
“We are proud of our high-quality Associate of Science in Nursing program that prepares registered nurses for our workforce, “said Dr. Michael Vitale, Senior VP of Academic Affairs at Lake-Sumter State College. “Our nursing graduates fill a critical workforce need and we remain committed to offering a top-tier nursing degree program that utilizes a modern and collaborative approach. We appreciate the great partnership that we have with AdventHealth that allows us to meet regional workforce needs in both nursing and other allied health professions.”
In the DEU model, nursing students receive an immersive and unique clinical learning experience with college and hospital staff partnering as both instructors and mentors. The DEU model provides several benefits, including:
- Enhanced communication and collaboration between College nursing staff and faculty and staff in professional practice
- Students are able to apply theory to practice, using nursing staff as clinical instructors
- Increased learning opportunities by immersing RN students in the nursing role
- Ensures that skills being taught are aligned with current industry practice
- Additional individualized instruction opportunities for RN students with staff nurses as mentors
As nursing instruction, students, and faculty transition to the hospital-based DEU, existing classrooms and facilities on the Leesburg campus will become available to allow other healthcare focused programs to grow in enrollment.
LSSC now offers an Associate of Science degree in Health Services Management and certificates in Medical Office Management and Medical Coder/Biller. The College’s Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Strategic Leadership also plans to offer a concentration in Health Services Administration. In addition, LSSC plans to offer a certificate in Medical Lab Technology in the near future.
LSSC also offers non-degree, short-term credentialing programs in dental assisting, dialysis technician, and phlebotomy.
“We look forward to continuing to refine and expand our healthcare offerings to meet the need of our region with a strong collaboration with AdventHealth and our other hospital partners,” said Vitale.
LSSC is also in talks with the large hospitals in Leesburg and Clermont to open additional DEU programs. Information on enrolling in any of the College’s program is available at www.lssc.edu/academics.
