Jennifer Rich-Neal
Sep 27 2006 12:00AM
PJC’s Warrington campus offers many programs in health care to qualified applicants each year. Among those enrolled, one thing sets a handful of the nontraditional dental hygiene students apart. They are the select few sent to PJC by the U.S. Navy.
Since 1996, the Navy has sent its sailors to receive education in the dental hygiene program at PJC. ÿPJC is one of only two schools in the country that contract education with the Navy for dental hygiene. ÿEach year, 10 to 18 of the seats in the new classes are filled with Navy personnel who will receive education in preventive dental care. ÿThis includes administering cleanings, fluoride, and x-rays in a 32 chair dental hygiene clinic.
Linda Lambert, program director for dental hygiene, describes what the relationship with the Navy does to benefit those involved.
“It’s a win-win situation because the Navy receives qualified personnel, and we do not release too many graduates at one time,” Lambert said. “We can keep enrollment up without flooding the job market.”
Navy enrollees utilize what is learned in the PJC dental hygiene program on military bases all over the world or on their assigned ship once leaving the program. Guy Persinger, 26, a current Navy student, articulates what he has gained from the program.
“I want to take my experience and knowledge from the [PJC dental hygiene] program and further apply them to my ultimate goal of becoming a dentist,” Persinger says. “My education, although attained through a Navy program, will be equally valuable in civilian life.”
Persinger and other students that are expanding their education via PJC and the Navy are taking their new skills outside of the community. This is just one of the many ways that the PJC health programs can help you get there from here.
