Round One Grantees
Medford, Oregon
Asante and Rogue Community College committed to partnering in a 3-year project with the ultimate goal of creating and graduating two cohorts of students with the first certificate in Health Care Informatics in Oregon. The project goal will train frontline staff for a new role essential to 21st century healthcare: medical informatics. The objective is to define this new role at the entry level; develop a plan to prepare workers, and then integrate them into the job structure so that they are appropriately compensated, supported and promoted. This will be a new hybrid position that requires a worker to be both well versed clinically as well as savvy in the world of medical information technology. The work-based learning experience will be embedded in the curriculum and provide the knowledge and skills that are specific to selected clinical areas.
Web site: http://www.asante.org
Baltimore, Maryland
BACH is a workforce intermediary whose partners include eight Baltimore hospitals, two local community colleges, community-based organizations, area foundations, and the public workforce development system. Through the Jobs to Careers effort, BACH is attempting to develop a comprehensive system in Baltimore to address the critical shortages of frontline patient care healthcare workers for member hospitals. The project, entitled 1st Span, seeks to recruit and train incumbent hospital employee to become Nurse Extenders. Students are recruited from environmental, dietary, transportation and other support areas of the hospital. Students move to the nurse extender curriculum after completing a Certified Nursing Assistant program and gaining six months of work experience in the acute setting. The project will be administered over a period of three years to three cohorts of students coming from as many as six Baltimore hospitals. Each cohort module is scheduled to last up to fourteen months. Instruction will be enhanced through work-based learning activities and through the engagement of career coaches and mentors.
Web site: http://www.baltimorealliance.org/
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
This is a partnership led by District 1199C (AFSCME) Training and Upgrading Fund, a union-based workforce intermediary that has served frontline health care workers in the Philadelphia area for over 30 years. The Fund is partnered with two behavioral health employers, Temple University Health Systems (including Temple University Episcopal and Philadelphia Health Management Corporation) and two educational institutions (Philadelphia University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation). The partners seek to implement a career ladder for frontline behavioral health technicians, based on competencies used in the workplace that will be a model for the mental health field. The team is also updating curricula for training behavioral health technicians to reflect work-based learning methods and the most current models of recovery-based psychiatric rehabilitation.
Web site: http://www.1199ctraining.org
Flagstaff, Arizona
Learning Circles for Health Technicians will provide learning and career development opportunities for American Indians serving as health technicians in health facilities located on the Navajo reservation. This will take place through a partnership consisting of Northern Arizona University, the Navajo Area Office Indian Health Service, an Indian Health Service health care employer (Chinle Service Unit), a tribal-run health care employer,(Winslow Indian Health Care Center), an academic telemedicine program, and an educational consortium dedicated to improving the health of Native American communities (Pathways Into Health). The approach to work-based learning includes employer-approved projects, critical incident/task review, and a learner portfolio with a learning contract.
Web sites:
http://home.nau.edu
http://www.pathwaysintohealth.org
http://www.telemedicine.arizona.edu
http://www.ihs.gov/FacilitiesServices/Areaoffices/Navajo/index.asp
Owensboro, Kentucky
The Owensboro Medical Health System and the community college propose to provide on-line and work-based training for frontline workers (CNAs, pharmacy techs, monitor techs, unit clerks, patient care techs, and environmental techs) to become Associate Degree Registered Nurses. All of the cohort members will have already received their CNA training and certification, offered on-site by the hospital, prior to the start of this project.
Web site: http://www.octc.kctcs.edu
Portland, Oregon
Portland Community College is enhancing skill and career development for pre-licensed direct care workers (DCWs) in assisted living facilities to improve both worker and resident satisfaction. Its team consists of two assisted living facilities as well as specialists from the Customized Workplace Training and Gerontology departments of PCC. It aims to implement standardized work-based training specifically designed for direct care workers in the two facilities. It also plans to develop and implement mentoring programs to increase retention and provide career advancement opportunities. Through this program, PCC will create a portable, industry-recognized credential and a career ladder/lattice that includes steps for two entry-level DCW positions (Resident I and II), and a progression from Activities Assistant to higher, degree-level credentials
Web site: www.pcc.edu
Fall River, Massachusetts
SSTAR, a nonprofit healthcare organization specializing in substance abuse treatment, will increase the availability of qualified and credentialed addictions treatment professionals through workplace and work-based learning programs that enhance incumbent workers’ skills and knowledge and provide advancement opportunities. The design includes two career paths leading to degrees in either counseling or nursing. The path includes the option of addictions counseling certification along the way.
Web site: http://www.SSTAR.org
Waianae, Hawaii
Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center is the largest of 12 health centers in the region. It is located in an impoverished area where the rates of homelessness, substance abuse, and obesity are high. The health center’s mission is to hire from the community and employs approximately 400 individuals. Many of their employees are second and third generation workers. They are establishing a Credit-Preceptor Model to help bridge the higher education gap and move their employees into their paperless records and billing system. The trained Preceptor will provide credit to employees for work-based learning through competency based assessment and workforce specific curriculum. Targeted positions are Medical Receptionists, Medical Assistants, and Team Office Managers.
Web site: http://www.wcchc.com
Austin, Texas
The Austin Healthcare Collaborative is a broad partnership that is providing work-based and more traditional training and career coaching for workers in four key front-line occupations: Clinical Assistant, Patient Care Technician, Unit Secretary and Patient Access Representative. The primary partnership includes two hospitals: the Seton Family of Hospitals and Saint David’s Healthcare; and Austin Community College, WorkSource (Workforce Investment Board), and the Health Industry Steering Committee (a non-profit intermediary).
Web site: http://www.wfscapitalarea.com
