SANFORD - The Central Carolina Community College Medical Sonography program has received initial accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.

"We are incredibly excited that the culmination of years of work by our Medical Sonography faculty has resulted in an accredited program that allows our graduates to complete the nationally recognized American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) Registry," said Lisa Johnson, Ed.D., CCCC Dean of Health Sciences and Human Services. "Accreditation for the Medical Sonography program allows for our college to measure and improve quality in the education process that ultimately results in a qualified graduate providing top-notch patient care for our community and at the end of the day can lead to life saving information for the patients we serve."

Soni Sundquist, CCCC Medical Sonography Program Director, noted: "This is such a great accomplishment for our college and our communities and is the result of labors of love from so many wonderful faculty members! The American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) is the gold standard in the sonography profession and we are now officially part of that society.

"Faculty and students have overcome unforeseen obstacles over the past year with COVID by working together with our community partners at many clinical sites to accomplish this goal. In order to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs upon the recommendation of the Joint Review Committee on Education in Diagnostic Medical Sonography and allowed to test through ARDMS, our program has coordinated class, lab, and clinical instruction in order to produce technicians whose primary goal is to provide the greatest quality of care to their patients," said Sundquist.

CCCC's General Medical Sonography program is an Associate's Degree program that educates and trains students to operate special equipment to create images that help physicians assess and diagnose medical conditions and/or assist physicians and surgeons during invasive procedures. Students are educated in abdominal sonography, breast sonography, obstetric and gynecologic sonography, pediatric sonography, and musculoskeletal sonography.

Learn more about the CCCC Medical Sonography program at www.cccc.edu/curriculum/majors/medical-sonography.

For more information on Central Carolina Community College - which is dedicated to providing pathways to achievable dreams, visit www.cccc.edu.