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'This is what we're trained to do:' Health Tech of Georgia addresses concerns over not canceling classes

Classrooms across the state are empty while students are learning online, but Health Tech of Georgia in Warner Robins decided to keep their doors open.

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — During the coronavirus outbreak, Health Tech of Georgia's doors are still open in Warner Robins for students to come and go for class.

"We're continuing to go until the government tells us we can't. This is what we're trained to do and we need to be able to fulfill that," says Health Tech CEO Alicia Laidlaw. 

She says no one from the state Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission has contacted them saying they must close. 

Classes may not be canceled, but the school did decide to cut back on the hours spent in the classroom. 

"We used to do four hours a day, but now, we're doing two hours per class, just to keep it at a downfall."

Students are training to be nurses or medical assistants at Health Tech, and Laidlaw believes this experience will be a valuable lesson if they want to enter the medical field. 

"You don't get to run from things like this, you've got to run towards them, not away from them. we've got to learn how to take care of ourselves as well as our patients, and if we can't teach that, then we're not teaching what we're supposed to do."

Laidlaw says they aren't forcing students to come to class. They are still allowed absences, and if they show up and go home immediately after checking in, they're still counted present for that day. 

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