Students can now receive a phlebotomy certification in just 12 weeks.

Winchester’s Bluegrass Community and Technical College location added a summer phlebotomy certification program.

According to the course description, the course prepares the student as an integral member of the healthcare team to collect blood from patients and donors in hospitals, blood banks or clinics for analysis or other medical purposes. The course will also teach standard precautions, record keeping and therapeutic communication skills.

The first six weeks are lecture based and the last six weeks are clinicals. The program starts May 14. The lecture runs until June 22 and classes are held Monday through Thursday from noon to 3:45 p.m. Clinicals begin June 25 and runs until August 8.

Students must be available to complete 180 clinical hours for PHB 155 in the same semester they take the phlebotomy course. Clinical sites may be local or as far away as 1 and a half hour drive one-way commute from Winchester. Cost-related travel will be the student’s expense.

The application deadline is May 1. Anyone that has a high school diploma or GED is eligible to apply.

Bruce Manley, campus director, said the course would cost on average $1500, but it will vary from student to student. There are only 15 spots available. There may also be scholarships, financial aid and tuition reimbursement opportunities.

“It’s a really quick way to get into a fast career start,” Manley said.

Near the end of the course, students will have to pass the national certification exam. Certified phlebotomy technicians can make anywhere from $13 to $16 an hour, starting pay.

“Then you can move on up after that if you like your career in healthcare,” Manley said. “Usually these types of certificates lead students to do more, and hopefully it leads to maybe medical assistant or registered nurse or something else. You never know. The possibilities are limitless.”

Manley said folks at the Clark Regional Medical Center expressed a need for phlebotomists and surgical technicians.

“We need people to take care of our residents here,” he said. “It’s a growing field, and we need to train people right here.”

According to a regional data report, there were 127 active candidates compared to 378 job postings.

“Wow,” Manley said, reading the report. “And this was from 2014 to 2016. So that means that 278 available positions went unfilled.”

In the future, Manley said he hopes to add a surgical technician program.

“That’s the nice thing about a community college is how responsive we can be to our employers in our community,” he said.