About 60 instructors, students, visitors and friends climbed up two flights of stairs from the Eugene Nesin Theatre to the new location of the BOCES Health Occupations/Nursing Program. There, on October 5, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed, and visitors toured the classrooms, checking out the medical mannequins and other teaching equipment.

The building on St. John Street in Monticello, built in 1936, has served as a high school, a middle school, and is now the BOCES Education Center. Denise Sullivan, director of BOCES Career and Technical Education, said the program moved to the new location because it needed larger quarters.

The program offers training to juniors and seniors in high school and also to adults. There are programs for people who want to become licensed practical nurses, physical or occupational therapists, physician’s assistants or who will be transitioning to pre-med programs.

Sullivan said the program is growing by leaps and bounds, in part, because, “you can’t outsource a nurse.” Another important part of the picture is that people in the healthcare facilities in the area are team players. She said, “All of our teachers were nurses in the area. So our clinical sites, the hospitals and nursing homes and doctor’s offices, they all know each other and they’re happy to be part of the education of our students and provide clinical experience for them. So yes, there are jobs, and the health care community here embraces these students and welcomes them in.”