Jeff Bledsoe's arms were bandaged and covered with bruises, but he just considers that part of the learning process.
The 53-year-old Brisbane, Calif., resident, who retired after 19 years as a computer programmer, was studying for a new career in phlebotomy, or blood drawing, by taking a two-week intensive class followed by clinical training.
"There's not really much in my field right now, so I've decided to do something different," Bledsoe said.
Risk analyst Jason Galang, 28, worked nearly six years at Charles Schwab before being laid off in November. Galang started a four-week course, also in phlebotomy, in January. He was drawn to the profession in part because it doesn't require a lot of training.
"I always saw health care as more rewarding -- you're helping people in need," said Galang, who has a business degree from San Francisco State University. "I also saw health care as more stable, especially compared to what I was doing."
Bledsoe and Galang are part of a growing group of workers who are changing careers and moving into one of the few job sectors that is actually hiring: health care.
While the federal government reported that nearly 2 million jobs were lost during the last four months of 2008, health care continued to hire more workers than any other sector. The industry added more than 30,000 jobs in December, for a total of 372,000 in 2008.
Many of those December gains -- more than 14,000 -- were in ambulatory health care services: doctors' offices, dental practices, labs and other outpatient care services. Hospitals added nearly 12,000 jobs, and about 5,500 were created in residential care and nursing homes.
Workers in greatest demand are phlebotomists, medical assistants, laboratory and pharmacy technicians -- positions important to the industry but which often require just a high school diploma and weeks or months of training.
Known as allied health professions, these represent most of the jobs in health care aside from doctors, registered nurses, pharmacists and dentists. Salaries for these jobs vary depending on training, demand and setting, but phlebotomists typically make about $20 an hour and medical assistants can earn from $14 to more than $20.
"We've seen an increase across the board in applicants, and we've certainly seen more qualified applicants," said Linda Squires Grohe, dean of City College of San Francisco's School of Health and Physical Education. "We have more students than we have positions."
The logjam of students at schools like City College, which provides training for a wide array of allied health jobs, has spawned the growth of private schools like the Bay Area Medical Academy in San Francisco, which started offering classed in 2005 and provides training for phlebotomists, medical assistants and electrocardiogram technicians.
These schools tend to be more expensive than public schools, but often have flexible hours and no waiting list. The Bay Area Medical Academy charges $1,100 for a 60-hour EKG certification course and $2,250 for phlebotomy licensing. An 11-month course for medical assistants, which includes phlebotomy and EKG certification, costs $7,000.
The school's founder, Simonida Cvejic, said she's seen a 30 percent increase in applicants over the past year, which she attributes largely to the changing economy. She's seen a lot of students like Bledsoe and Galang who are switching careers, either by choice or necessity.
Health experts warn that getting trained for an allied health career isn't a surefire path to a job since hospitals and clinics are coming under growing strain due to the economy.
(E-mail Victoria Colliver at vcolliver(at)sfchronicle.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)
Must credit the San Francisco Chronicle
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