By Cynthia Marshall Schuman

While the employment slump wears on for many professionals who rode high on the dot-com craze of the late 1990s, some segments of the economy are actually growing.

Radiation therapy, for instance, is experiencing a critical shortage of trained professionals, according to Debra Blodgett, who directs the radiation therapy program at Foothill College. She attributes the shortfall to the aging of the work force and the creation of more radiation treatment centers.

In response to this scarcity, the college has resurrected its radiation therapy program. Come September, a dozen competitively selected students will begin the school’s 24-month, intensive training program.

The students come from as far away as Chico. “(They) come to class one day a week and then they do their clinical training outside,” Blodgett said.

“Foothill is very, very dedicated to the idea of being a regional training area,” she said.

The department has regional training centers in Stockton and Modesto, the East Bay, and Chico and Yuba City. Down the road, it hopes to set up videoconferencing for students in other far-flung areas.

The program closed in 1998 due, in part, to the lure of technology and computer companies for potential applicants. Soon afterward, the local radiation community approached the college to reopen the program. Now, Blodgett said, the hospital councils of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties are funding the department’s reinstatement.

The program at Foothill is one of four in California and one of two in Northern California.

Starting salaries for new radiation therapists are good. Blodgett said offers to new graduates typically run in the $60,000-a-year range.