Institute of health technology changes name, renovates

By Lora Volkert

IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW

The American Institute of Health Technology in Boise plans to change its name to Apollo College, effective Jan. 1, and will continue renovations aimed at expanding the college, which offers vocational programs in health care.

The school, on Liberty Street south of Fairview Avenue and west of Curtis Road, offers programs to train dental assistants, dental hygienists, medical assistants, emergency medical technicians, massage therapists, medical administrative assistants and pharmacy technicians.

In October 2003, AIHT was acquired by Mission Viejo, Calif.-based U.S. Education Corp., which owns 16 vocational colleges in Idaho and northern California.

The name change and some curriculum changes are part of the company’s efforts to standardize its operations. The college added medical billing and medical administrative assistant programs, and plans to add more programs, said Executive Director Jeff Akens, though didn’t offer details.

Most renovation of the institute’s 30,000-square foot building, formerly a Nazarene church, is to be finished by summer. AIHT, founded in 1980, has remodeled the sanctuary, which it had previously used as-is for graduations, and some Sunday school rooms into classrooms and a dental clinic with 30 dentist chairs.

The college plans to renovate the kitchen and cafeteria area into more classrooms.

AIHT has added new equipment, including panoramic X-ray and digital X-ray equipment and more autoclaves for sterilizing instruments. The school plans to add EKG machines, more exam tables, an incubator for growing cultures and a laboratory centrifuge for studying blood samples.

Since the acquisition, the number of employees at AIHT has doubled to 55 faculty and 25 staff and administrators. The number of students has more than doubled, from 280 to 577.

The institute is profitable, said Akens, but he declined to give the school’s revenue or discuss financial details of the acquisition.