Nonprofit academy offers chance to pursue health care careers

Jeremiah’s Hope Academy, a Lakeview nonprofit operated by St. Vincent’s Birmingham, offers affordable training for entry-level health care careers.

And it probably deserves more attention locally, according to manager Shane Bedsole.

“I can’t tell you how many times we’re referred to as a ‘best-kept secret,’” he said.

Jeremiah’s Hope, founded in 2003, is a “one-of-a-kind” post-secondary school with graduates working at every major health care provider in north-central Alabama, Bedsole said.

The academy offers individualized instruction in a wide variety of health care jobs, from phlebotomist and mental health technician, to billing and coding specialist and patient care assistant.

And Jeremiah’s Hope seeks to help people of all ages and income levels, even those who want career changes, to get the training they need to better themselves economically while finding rewarding new professions.

Thanks to subsidies from St. Vincent’s, the academy has small classes, according to Bedsole. This means the school can help students individually and “work with each person’s unique situation,” he said.

There’s a high demand for entry-level health care personnel, according to Bedsole.

And the jobs are meaningful. “Many individuals enjoy having the ability to serve and help others as well as make it a career path,” he said.

The academy is “breaking cycles of poverty” for some students, according to Bedsole.

“Education and employment are long-term solutions to poverty and lack of access to such resources as health insurance or career mobility,” he said.

For more information about the academy, located at 2800 University Blvd., call 939-7233 or go to jhacademy.org.