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Twelve local seniors will have the opportunity to hone their skills and have a job out of high school.

The Lowndes County Improvement Association and the Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce is launching a Lowndes County Health and Medical Careers Program.

The first program on the agenda is a program that will train 12 seniors to become EKG technicians.

EKG technicians work in health care facilities with doctors and technologists and specialize in electrocardiogram testing for patients.

EKG techs can make a decent wage.

The median EKG tech salary for the United States is $50,000 and the lowest 10 percent of techs make $27,000. Those in the top 10 percent can exceed $77,000.

Alabama’s average salary is $52,552 per year, which is greater than the average annual pay in Alabama, which is $39,180.

In Lowndes County, the average salary for residents in $18, 046.

Dr. Ozelle Hubert, who is over the chamber, said the organization was able to secure funding through the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who has $7 million to recruit high school and college students to specialize in rural medicine.

Hubert said the plan is for the program to be on Saturdays and be 10-12 weeks.

The program will take four seniors from Calhoun, four seniors from Central-Hayneville and four seniors from Lowndes Academy.

In addition to becoming EKG certified, they will also be CPR certified.

“This is monumental,” Hubert said.

Plans are still being worked out for a location to hold the training. The Lowndes Signal will update as more information becomes available on the project.