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Camp Community College achieved a key milestone in its history Thursday, Jan. 9, when the first students attended class at the college’s new Nursing & Allied Health Education and Training Center in Franklin.

The college announced this milestone via a Jan. 9 news release.

At the Feb. 27, 2024, groundbreaking of the center, CCC President Dr. Corey L. McCray said, “The nursing and allied health industry workforce demand is the highest demand in Virginia and one of the highest in the nation, and this college is the only comprehensive health care training provider between the (Interstate) 95 corridor and what is Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach.”

He noted that for years, Camp has been attempting to meet the demand using a handful of classrooms on its Franklin campus and at its Suffolk campus.

The new and now-operating education and training center greatly expands and enhances CCC’s ability to equip future nursing and allied health industry workers.

The building that the center is located in had been the home of The Tidewater News for 45 years, starting in April 1978.

Tidewater Publications LLC, which publishes The Tidewater News, Windsor Weekly and related print and digital products, sold the 13,000-square-foot building at 1000 Armory Drive to the Paul D. Camp Community College Real Estate Foundation in spring 2023. The facility was sold to the college for $750,000.

At the February 2024 groundbreaking, McCray addressed how the facility would be used.

“This building will help to address the workforce needs as well as establish career pathways for members of this community and the region because we’ll be able to educate and train more nurses, more phlebotomy techs, more dental assistants, more certified medical assistants, more certified nursing assistants, etc.,” he said. “In addition, we will offer more classes with alternative instructional delivery methods.

“This will also be a place for our community use, a place that will provide opportunities for partnerships with our K-12 school districts, hospital systems and health care providers for community health initiatives and the like,” he said.

A photo accompanying Camp’s Jan. 9 release showed a photo from the facility of a class in session in a room that had formerly been The Tidewater News newsroom.

Tidewater Publications co-owner Steve Stewart, who is a former publisher of The Tidewater News, saw the photo and said, “It is gratifying to see Camp Community College’s vision for our former office come to fruition. I can’t think of a better use than the training of health care professionals during a time of critical shortages in such occupations.”

McCray also saw the photo and noted, “We were fortunate to establish a real estate foundation at Camp Community College in 2022. Consequently, the Camp Community College Real Estate Foundation made it possible to secure the building and expedite its opening. This building is the beginning of great opportunities for those interested in a health care career. The college’s faculty and staff are excited about the Nursing and Allied Health Care building and what this means for student career opportunities and the health care industry’s high demand for qualified employees.”