Tech college gives thumbs up to dental hygienist program
Application moves on to state board of regents for approval
By Scott Rochat
Monday, January 8, 2007
It's now up to the Kansas Board of Regents to decide whether Flint Hills Technical College will have a dental hygienist program.
On Monday, the college's board of trustees voted to request the program. If granted, FHTC would be the fifth school in the state to have such a program and the only one to train both dental hygienists and dental assistants.
College President Dean Hollenbeck and Monica Jones, the head of the dental assisting program, both said another program was needed.
"In Colorado, we had one of the largest dental hygiene programs in the nation," said Hollenbeck, whose last job was heading up Colorado Northwestern Community College's campus in Craig. "We had 80 students and we could have easily taken more."
Jones said that a recent survey of Kansas dentists found that people with both assisting and hygienist skills were needed. Assistants do basic work and serve as an additional pair of hands for the dentist, while hygienists are trained to do deep cleaning, injections and other equipment-intensive work.
"They want one person with both skills," Jones said. "Rural Kansas dentists can recruit one person, but often not two."
There will be a 45-day period for other schools and programs to make comments before the Kansas Board of Regents takes up the request. If approved, the hygienist program will be submitted to the American Dental Association so that accreditation can be pursued. If everything goes right, the new program could be in place by fall 2008.
Students in the hygienist program would have to have passed the dental assisting program first with at least a "C" in all course work. The program is projected to cost the college about $179,000 but is also expected to bring in about $212,000 in revenue.
Leading the way
The Legislature may be asked this year to create a governing board for technical colleges and schools.
The draft bill is still being discussed by the Kansas Technical School and Vocational School Commission, a study group created by the Legislature. If adopted, it would create a nine-member governing board consisting of three members of the Kansas Board of Regents, one state school board member and five members of the general public. The board would also hire an executive director.
A number of the details are still up in the air, Hollenbeck said, not least how to pay for it.
"Nothing is going to happen unless the Legislature allocates funds to it," he said. "That's going to be the battle."
If created, the board would be able to coordinate planning for technical education, be a voice for the schools at the state level and make recommendations on programs to the board of regents.
One byproduct, Hollenbeck said, would probably be a standardized curriculum. He added that that might not be a bad thing in terms of efficiency. In nursing, he said, he could think of two other schools that trained the same sort of skills as Flint Hills but required more hours to do it.
"You say that to business and industry people and they'll ask 'How'd that happen?'" Hollenbeck said. "Businesses don't run that way."
In other action:
F The trustees approved a $25,309 bid from Stutler Technologies to put in a new telephone system. A power surge crashed the current system, which is more than 15 years old. Insurance money will cover the bid.
F Training for the college's Interest-Based Bargaining sessions will begin Feb. 13. IBB is a method of contract negotiation that emphasizes cooperation instead of confrontation.
F Expenses for the college have run slightly ahead of projections, but the school still finished December with an ending cash balance of $1,053,726. That's nearly $190,000 ahead of the same time in 2005.
F A total of 392 students have enrolled for the spring semester, one less than last spring. But the "full-time equivalent" enrollment used to determine funding has gone up, mostly due to an increase in the power plant program.
hjcary (anonymous) says...
That is great they might be improving the dental program, but Don't forget the nurses! I graduated from Flint Hills Tech School in July 1995. At the time the head guy for the healthcare department kept spouting to us to return in a few years because they would have a 1 plus 1 program where us LPNs could come back and do one more year and have our associate RN. I am still waiting.......I am sure it would be a very successful program especially for us LPNs who graduated before it became a college (I was in I think the last nursing class to come through on clock hours) I still remember Pete telling us to come back for our IV certifications and then to come back after they had built the NEW healthcare building and started the RN program. That was 12yrs ago..........
January 9, 2007 at 2:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )