I see. You are limited in what you can pursue there because the skills you have aren't matched by the degrees/certifications that you need to "prove" yourself.
If that's the case, then I would lean toward going the full-time route at school and getting whatever work you can get on the side. When I mentioned before that going to school on a part-time basis while I worked almost full-time was great for me, you have to remember that I was lucky enough to find a position in my field that paid a pretty good rate for a technician who was still in school.
Before that, I worked in a retail position on a part-time basis -- I wasn't thrilled about this because it wasn't my real line of work, but I earned enough money to pay my way through school and impressed the management so much that they made me a supervisor after only three months. If I had been interested in that kind of career I could have been very successful at it -- so it's very possible for you to find a decent position outside your career interests that can carry you until you finish school.
Mr. Bird sounds like he might be onto something -- he mentioned a few areas that offer a possible combination of a strong field (health care) and work in your areas interest.
Sounds rough there in West Virginia. Have you thought about moving somewhere else, or do you think you'll be able to settle down there once you finish school? Is the "Northern Panhandle" the part of WV that separates Pennsylvania from Ohio, or is it over between northern Virginia and western Maryland?