Trio of recent WCHS graduates are now certified phlebotomists, or blood suckers if you will

A trio of recent Whitley County High School graduates earned a certification before they graduated, which could help provide them employment for the next few years while they complete college.

The trio of Terron Broughton, Mirna Hernandez and Katie Young are now certified blood suckers, or to be more technical Certified Phlebotomy Technicians (CPT).

These aren’t vampires, but rather the folks, who draw your blood when your doctor wants blood work done.

The trio was presented with white lab coats and pens during the Whitley County Board of Education’s monthly meeting, which was held in the lobby of the Whitley County Board of Education’s administration building in Williamsburg Thursday.

The students completed their certification as part of their work in the Allied Health Medical Pathway at the high school. The program began in November 2018.

“We have a lot of kids that have an interest in the health care field,” Superintendent John Siler noted.

During Dee Dee Bishop’s medical lab/phlebotomy class students learned to draw blood and prick fingers.

Each student had to do 10 capillary sticks or finger sticks as part of the class, and 30 venipunctures (drawing blood) on live patients as part of the class.

Several staff members at the school in addition to relatives of several students volunteered as test subjects.

In order to pass the certification exam, which consists of 120 multiple-choice questions with 100 of those items being scored.

The students also must achieve a scaled score of 390 out of 500 to pass the exam.

“These three young ladies did that. I am very proud of them. They are all going to college,” Bishop said.

Broughton plans to major in nursing at Lincoln Memorial University, and Hernandez and Young both plan to major in biology at the University of the Cumberlands.

“You all can come back and volunteer to be stuck too,” Bishop added.

Siler noted that hopefully these young ladies will be back in a few years as nurses, nurse practitioners or doctors in Whitley County.