The Wrangell school district will receive a $608,000 grant for a new virtual-reality-based program for middle and high school students to learn about healthcare sciences and careers in nursing, emergency medicine, behavioral health, dentistry and community health.
The money will pay to buy hardware, software and curriculum, School Board President John DeRuyter said last week.
“We are hopeful to be able to begin offering the program by the end of winter or beginning of spring next year,” he said.
The Wrangell program is primarily designed for students who want to become certified nursing assistants or pursue other medical careers. Through the virtual-reality platform the district would purchase, students would study detailed, interactive 3D anatomical models guided by virtual lessons from medical experts, according to Wrangell’s grant application.
The district’s grant request was one of 32 selected in the latest round of federally funded Rural Health Transformation Program awards, announced earlier this month by the Alaska Department of Health. This round, the fifth so far, awarded $25.8 million in grants, bringing the total to more than $207 million to date.
The latest round of awards in Alaska will go to projects focused on improving health access, nutrition, telehealth services, healthcare infrastructure, workforce development and more.
