Health Connections
Health Connections Team
I'm holly Schmitt Director of the Health
Connections TAACCCT Grant at Arapahoe
Community College.
Hi, my name is Elizabeth Santana and I am Allied Health Practicum Coordinator
under the TAACCCT Grant.
My Name is Zachary Schmidt, and my official
title is the Student Success and Retention Coordinator for the Grant.
Arapahoe Community College
Health Connections at Arapahoe Community College
Since the TAACCCT Grant is a Department of
Labor grant the focus is to meet the
needs of local industry partners
in healthcare. We've done this through our
advisory boards and immense outreach for
curriculum development. The TAACCCT Grant is
also designed to impact the way that the
institution runs overall,
so we've been able to train our
administrators and faculty on Prior Learning
Assessment (PLA).
We've also been able to collaborate
across our Allied Health Programs to
change the way that they interface with
our industry partners and to bring a
synchronized approach and processes
across all of our Allied Health Programs
including the collaboration of our
directors throughout our Allied Health
Programs. The impact for the institution
at our Allied Health Programs here at
Arapahoe Community College has been
immense and will continue far beyond the
length of the grant with the processes
and framework that we've been able to
create for Allied Aealth, Health
Information Technology (HIT) in particular and
Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) initiatives at
at Arapahoe Community College
I've been with Arapahoe Community
College for over a year and I've had the
pleasure to take over Practicum
Coordination for several of the Allied
Health Programs including HIT
with the Practicum Coordination that I do
I've been able to revamp the
processes and policies that students
follow in order to get their practicum
placement. By implementating a timeline that
students have to follow we've been able
to improve our relationship with
industry partners by being more
respectful of their time and allowing
them to prepare for students to come to
their site. This also allows the site to
diversify the practicum and make it more
interactive and engaging for the student.
Now the students are able to truly
become immersed in the culture and the
environment within the industry so that
they are more prepared when they
graduate and they feel like they have
learned something great they can take
to their next job or to an interview.
We've also received feedback from
students that mentioned they really
enjoyed the timeline that has been
implemented because it allows them
several months in order to get their
requirements together they're not rushed
to the end and they have the ability to
take their time and make sure that they
are fully prepared to go out to a practicum site.
With the new cohorted model that
the HIT The Health Information
Technology program has implemented
should help to streamline soon retention
as well as develop more of what we call it the cohorted method which will
essentially help students build off of
them and collaborate with one another
inside the classroom to better their grades as
well as again
make them finish the program on time or
in a quicker fashion.
One of my main roles is to answer student inquiries
across the Aliied Health field, so typical day
for me is pretty much answer student
inquiries via email or answer the phone
and deliver information that way. I also
help students get signed up for classes
if need be, and one role that I do with the
new cohorted model for the HIT
program, is to re-evaluate the students'
curriculum plan in order to get them
along without any bumps in the road for
them to be able to graduate on time.
Our Job is to Help You Succeed.
Health Connections
TAACCCT Grant Disclaimer
Arapahoe Community College
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