She said she hopes to expand the program to include more than just students who are planning to go into nursing.

“This class is applicable for anyone going into a medical field, whether its nursing, physical therapy, being a doctor, a dentist or any other kind of medical field,” Shelton said. “This class is a good foundation for anyone going into a medical profession.”

With Hartselle Medical Center shutting down its operations, Shelton said she is looking for other hospitals to replace the good relationship it had with HMC.

“The staff at Hartselle Medical Center was great to work with,” Shelton said. “Many of our second-year students went to HMC to do their job shadowing. With the hospital shutting down, those students have been able to continue their job shadowing at Parkway Medical Center, but I would love to have some of our students shadow at Decatur General.”

Walden said she wants to help Shelton with that in the future.

“We would like to work with Hartselle High School to have some of their students do their job shadowing with us,” Walden said. “That’s something we’re interested in doing because these students to come are our future.”