LILLINGTON - Health care education at Central Carolina Community College in Harnett County is preparing to make major strides with the construction of a state-of-the-art Health Sciences Building in Brightwater Science and Technology Park.

The public is invited to the groundbreaking for the facility. It will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 12, at 578 W. Cornelius Harnett Blvd., Lillington, 1/4 mile east of the intersection of highways 401 and 210. In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in the Harnett County Commons Area, 309 W. Cornelius Harnett Blvd.

"Such a facility has been a dream of mine and others for the college and for the citizens of Harnett County for a very long time," said CCCC Harnett Provost Bill Tyson. "More than the dream, though, is the reality that Harnett County citizens can not only aspire to healthcare careers, but get the superior training they need to be successful in those careers and secure their futures - right here in the county."

The 50,200-square-foot facility is scheduled for completion in summer 2013. It will house programs such as nurse aide, phlebotomy, EKG, pharmacy tech, medical assisting, physical therapy assisting, and associate degree nursing. Students will be able to enter the workforce with these skills or choose to build on them for a healthcare career at a higher level, Tyson said.

Harnett Health System Inc. has its 50-bed Central Campus Hospital already under construction in Brightwater, just east of the Health Sciences Building site. A cooperative agreement between the college and HHS will enable students to do clinical training at the hospital. The Health Sciences Building will have space to provide continuing education programs for hospital workers.

Speakers for the groundbreaking will be CCCC President Bud Marchant, CCCC Board of Trustees Chairman Julian Philpott, Harnett County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tim McNeill, Harnett Health Systems President and CEO Ken Bryan, and Red Rock Developments CEO William Smith Jr. Red Rock is building the facility on the 4.75-acre site.

"Central Carolina Community College has been training workers in the health care field almost since its founding in 1961," said CCCC President Bud Marchant. "Practical Nurse Education students were our first curriculum diploma graduating class, back in 1964. The health care programs at each of our campuses have grown exponentially since then. The demand is large and growing for our graduates in the many health fields for which we prepare them. This facility will enable us to continue to send our graduates into the workforce prepared with the most modern skills."

The Health Sciences Building is one of several medical-related facilities under construction or in planning for the Lillington-Dunn area, including the hospital, an East Carolina University dental center, and Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine. Their proximity creates what Tyson calls a "Highway 421 healthcare corridor."

For more information about health care programs at CCCC, visit its Web site, www.cccc.edu.