CAMPBELL –The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded a $250,000 grant to the Campbell school district to purchase medical equipment and supplies to operate a new health care workforce training program.

The equipment will help train new and existing workers in health care fields such as medical assisting, medical billing, medical coding, health information technology and surgical technology.

The school district in March was awarded $10.5 million to build the health and community development center from the state’s Appalachian Children’s Health Initiative program.

The district is constructing a 55,000-square-foot facility on the grounds of its K-6 school, adjacent to its Community Literacy Workforce and Cultural Center and the Northeast Ohio IMPACT Academy.

The center also received a $2 million federal earmark in December 2022.

The center will serve those in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

The school district is partnering with Southwoods Health, Akron Children’s and training provider Stark State College on the new training programs to provide career enhancement opportunities for students in underserved communities while increasing the number of trained allied health professionals to fill in employment gaps in the Mahoning Valley, according to the commission.

Stark State College will provide training for about 100 students each year.

“This project will enable the grantee and their project partners to implement five new health care workforce training programs that will increase the number of trained and certified health professionals to provide consistent quality care to patients in Appalachia Ohio and fill employment gaps that local hospitals and healthcare organizations have experienced as a result of the growth of the healthcare industry in the region, an aging population and following the COVID-19 pandemic,” the commission stated.