Governor Kay Ivey announces the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences in Demopolis

On Tuesday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) was in Demopolis for a formal bill signing ceremony for legislation to create the new Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences to be located in Demopolis in rural Marengo County.

Ivey was joined at the announcement by the legislation’s sponsors – Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) and Representative Cynthia Almond (R-Tuscaloosa). They were joined there by Rep. Artis “A.J.” McCampbell (D-Linden), Demopolis Mayor Rob Collins, and other dignitaries.

“Establishing this specialty school here in Demopolis is no doubt the most significant investment in West Alabama in decades,” said Gov. Ivey. “But it’s much more than that. The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences will help more Alabama students open the door to their futures. It will bring more men and women into our healthcare workforce. It will change the trajectory of rural health care in our state.”

“Mayor…Rob – this significant legislative achievement would not have been possible without the unbelievable community support,” Ivey continued. “I mean…how many communities across this state could say they had a watch party for the State of the State address? Well, y’all can! And I am truly grateful. Just as your community support helped us get this enabling legislation and funding across the finish line…I am confident it will ultimately help this school and its future students be successful.”

“Let me leave y’all with this challenge today. Let’s get this school built,” stated Ivey. “Let’s get this school opened in under two years. Let’s get this funded in my final budget as governor. And let’s get students from all over Alabama in the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences. Together, I know we can make this a success that will change Alabama for the better. Thank you, again, for all y’all have done. This is our opportunity. Let’s not waste a moment. And let’s get the job done!”

The school will be a state-run boarding school for high school students who are looking to enter a healthcare related field. Students can gain practical experience working at the nearby Demopolis hospital while they work on getting an assistant nurse certification. Upon graduation students can either go straight into the growing healthcare sector or they can pursue a post-graduation certification from the Alabama community college system in the healthcare sector, or they can pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree, presumably in a field such as nursing or pre-medical school.

The State of Alabama already funds the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, the Alabama School of Math and Sciences, and the Alabama School of Cybertechnology and Engineering in Huntsville.

Students will be able to forgo spending four years in a typical high school environment and can instead move to Demopolis to fast track their healthcare sector career with a practical healthcare centered course of study.

“The School of Healthcare Science is just another beacon that the state of Alabama would be able to brag on around the world and show that there is a pattern by which we can take rural areas and develop them to meet the needs of our public here in the state of Alabama,” said Singleton during the Senate debate. “When we came up with this concept and this idea of the Alabama School of Health Sciences in Demopolis, Alabama we partnered with the local hospital which is a subsidiary of UAB. UAB faculty and staff along with the administrator Mr. Doug Brewer all came together with the County Commission, the Mayor, City Council came together to form an organization around this particular high school, ready to receive it, ready to embrace it, ready to endorse it; because we know that West Alabama and Demopolis is a place to where people would be proud.”

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