Federal investment will expand career and technical education in Burrillville to help train the next generation of professionals
BURRILLVILLE– The Burrillville School Department has secured $928,574 of federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) grant funding in year one to expand healthcare-focused Career and Technical Education (CTE) opportunities for town students.
RHTP is supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to improve the health and healthcare services of rural Rhode Islanders.
Rhode Island is working toward a connected, community-based system ensuring every rural resident has timely, coordinated, high-quality care where they live. This program will build lasting infrastructure empowering communities to lead their own health transformation, states a release.
Along with creating a state-of-the-art Rural Health Sciences and Emergency Medical Services Learning Center at Burrillville High School, town schools will be helping students in grades K-12 gain awareness of, preparation for, and exposure to high-demand fields, including biomedical sciences, emergency medical services (EMS), certified nursing assistants (CNA), phlebotomy, and other healthcare and health-adjacent fields.
“This Learning Center is going to be an incredible opportunity for our students to experience healthcare education in a whole new way,” stated Burrillville High School CTE Lead Instructor for the Biomedical Sciences Pathway Gennaro Ferraro. “They’ll be able to move seamlessly from the classroom into hands-on, real-world simulations, gaining the confidence and skills they need to succeed in today’s healthcare careers. With a teaching ambulance, high-fidelity medical simulation mannequins, hospital beds, and a digital anatomy table, our students will be learning by doing—and that is truly what makes this space so exciting.”
When opened, the space will accommodate larger groups for collaborative learning, healthcare demonstrations, community education programs, and presentations from healthcare professionals, higher education partners, and regional healthcare organizations.
Burrillville High School Principal Michael Lazzerschi stated, “We are deeply grateful to our healthcare and higher education partners for their involvement and helping create opportunities for students to learn, connect, and become career ready. From investing in early awareness of healthcare careers in the ways of presentations from local healthcare professionals, opt-in health career-focused after school clubs, field trips and more, to providing high school students with hands-on experience in collaboration with strong industry and community partnerships, these funds will help build a healthcare workforce pipeline to provide care for rural residents in our region.”
Burrillville Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Sollitto underscored the importance of the initiative.
“We are deeply grateful for this federal investment in RI K-12 public education and the ability to lead in the education of the next generation of healthcare professionals our rural communities so urgently need. In consultation with our industry partners, Burrillville schools are focusing on regional rural community priorities and will play a significant role in rural workforce development in our state.”
Through the RHTP, Rhode Island’s program is designed to work toward a connected, community-based system ensuring every rural resident has timely, coordinated, high-quality care where they live.
The project is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $156,169,931, with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS.
