Feds Award Training Grants to Four-State Colleges
March 15, 2008
Two community colleges in the Four-States region are among just 69 groups nationwide receiving a Community-Based Job Training Grant announced by the U.S. Department of Labor this week. Crowder College (Neosho, MO) and the Ft. Scott, KS Community College will use the funds to prepare students for careers in high-growth industries. Awardees were chosen from among 341 applications received in response to a competition announced August 8, 2007.
“Preparing local residents for careers in growing hometown industries is critical to improving the quality of life of thousands of Americans,” said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Brent R. Orrell. “These programs will provide participants not only with the skills needed to gain employment but the chance to enter into careers that offer opportunities for advancement.”
The grant totaling $1,426,086 to Crowder College is geared toward training for careers in healthcare. Ft. Scott Community College netted a grant for construction careers in the amount of $1,999,474.
For more information on the President’s Community-Based Job Training Grants, visit www.doleta.gov/business/Community-BasedJobTrainingGrants.cfm.
Summit Nourishes the Growing Healthcare Sector
March 8, 2008
More than 120 healthcare business leaders, educators, and economic development professionals gathered March 6th at Miami Civic Center to map out the future for one of the region’s most vibrant sectors. The first annual Four States Healthcare Summit featured exhibits and promising practices to heighten the skills and availability of the healthcare workforce and opportunities for sector leaders to strategize on steps to meet future demands of the sector moving forward.
Guest speakers representing Hospital Association efforts in Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma packed the morning with industry trends and proven techniques to enhance the healthcare sector. Sheryl McClain presented efforts of the Oklahoma Healthcare Workforce Center, a public-private partnership with the state’s hospital association with such a successful track record that the group now receives an ongoing earmark from the state legislature and investments from key stakeholders across the Sooner state.
To expand the pipeline of well-trained candidates, the Center makes the most of clinical experience sites by using technology tools. Emerging efforts include exploration and implementation of clinical simulators and recruitment for more trainers for the sector. High impact outreach and linkages of best practices for recruitment and retention of the healthcare workforce are priorities for the Center as well.
Joint efforts of the Missouri and Kansas Hospital Associations come together in the Kansas City Metropolitan Healthcare Council. Field Operations Senior VP Michael Dunaway highlighted the first major effort, which attacked the shortage of teachers and classroom space to train nurses in the metro area. By loaning the top performing nurses from participating hospitals on a part-time basis, and training those nurses to teach in the classroom setting, the project boosted the output of newly-trained nurses by 30%. Similar to Oklahoma, the project uses the latest technology to maximize the clinical work experience for students as well.
Dunaway touched on the KC Healthcare Workforce Partners recruitment efforts for the sector and other public-private partnerships using pre-employment screening tools to increase the quality of hire and retention for new employees. The Nurse Preceptor Academy drew audience interest as well as a resource to train and match experienced nurses with new nursing staff for coaching and mentoring to increase quality and boost retention.
During the lunch event, sponsored by Integris Baptist Regional Health Center in Miami, Joplin Business Journal publisher Roger Asay presented nominee listings and gave an overview of the Journal’s Healthcare Heroes initiative. The project spotlights the best and brightest from the healthcare sector in the categories of community outreach, healthcare provider-non physician, lifetime achievement, nursing, physician, professional staff, and volunteer. More information on the nominees, the project, and the March 26th awards presentation are provided at the Journal’s website, www.joplinbusinessjournal.com.
Hugh Doherty from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce moderated small group breakout sessions of attendees to prioritize key healthcare issues and concerns. The sessions include commitments from each session on specific strategies and “champions” to coordinate action on the issues moving forward. Partnerships such as the Four-States Health Professions Consortium and the Quad-States Regional Transformation initiative now have a fresh source of ideas and stakeholders to tap for outreach and projects of impact over the next eighteen months.
Wrapping up the afternoon of presentations, Jasen Jones from Southwest Missouri’s Workforce Investment Board provided a sneak peek into early counts of a regional healthcare workforce survey. The project is part of a larger research effort through the local workforce boards in conjunction with the Four-States Health Professions Consortium. The first phase of the research identifies perceptions and motivations of healthcare workers to enter, remain, and advance through healthcare careers. Employers can gain key insights in current state of recruitment and retention for the sector. Survey efforts continue through the second quarter of 2008 and employers interested in participating may contact Jones at 417-629-3000 or ceo@workforcezone.net for more information.
The Summit event was jointly coordinated by workforce system professionals affiliated with the four Workforce Investment Boards of Northeast Oklahoma, Southeast Kansas, Northwest Arkansas, and Southwest Missouri. The Joplin Business Journal sponsored pre-event media outreach for the event and Integris Baptist Regional Health Center of Miami sponsored the lunch. Event organizers were pleased with the turnout and participation of attendees and the new energies moving forward healthcare sector initiatives. The summit is an important first step in the emerging Quad-States Regional Transformation initiative, which seeks to provide economic vitality and global competitiveness through Healthcare and six other targeted industry sectors across the greater Four-States trade market.
Resources from the Summit:
> Presentation by Sheryl McLain from OK Healthcare Workforce Center
> Presentation by Michael Dunaway from KC Healthcare Workforce Council
> Ratings of Top Healthcare Issue Categories (from Summit pre-registrations)
