IVCCD moving forward on healthcare initiative

A critical workforce shortage in healthcare is being addressed by the Iowa Valley Community College District.

During Wednesday's regular IVCCD Board meeting, Business and Community Solutions Vice President Jacque Goodman presented a pathway initiative to address the issue. The initiative is a partnership between the college and healthcare providers -- UnityPoint Marshalltown, McFarland Clinic, UnityPoint Grinnell and Hansen Family Hospital in Iowa Falls -- to create work-based learning opportunities and apprenticeships.

"We know we're going to be learning as we go along," she said.

IVCCD received a three-year $451,878 grant from the Iowa Health Careers Registered Apprenticeship 2.0 grant program to fund the initiative.

"It was a moment of pride for us when we were awarded that," Goodman said.

The budget for the grant is broken down into three areas -- $274,400 will be spent on apprentice wages; $155,960 for tuition and fees and $21,518 for IVCCD administration.

"This is an earn and learn model," she said. "That was a key component of the grant, to make sure we had partners that were willing to take on apprentices."

Goodman said she now understands why companies hesitate to offer apprenticeships. She said there is a lot of tracking, legal contracts and paperwork involved. The three apprenticeship programs include assistants of nursing, phlebotomy and medical.

"These are gateways into healthcare," Goodman said.

The program includes three strategies:

• Partnerships with high schools to offer earning and learning opportunities. She said getting students interested in healthcare careers at a younger age is important. Goodman said some of that work has already begun, so expanding that aspect will not be difficult;

• Partnerships with community organizations to recruit residents living in poverty, of which there are many in the IVCCD region. Marshall County is frequently in the top nine counties with substantial unemployment. Goodman said that is due to a large amount of construction and seasonal work, and;

• Each partner having a "grow from within" strategy. Goodman said that might include someone working in the office who is going to school to become a medical assistant and giving them an opportunity to advance their career.

For people new to healthcare, she said they will offer a credit work-based learning program.

"They get exposure not only to the patient care we provide, but accounting, IT, they're going from department to department," Goodman said. "We really want to make sure that the participants that enter into this program are committed, and this is one way for an employer to see them and know. Sometimes that is a complaint we get, 'You're sending me students who are really not committed to healthcare.' How can we vet that a little further, so that they're not just jumping in and jumping right back out. This is a great place to start."

Getting low-income people into the program and being able to pay them at the same time will certainly help, she said.

In her presentation, Goodman said healthcare is the second largest sector in the state of Iowa. The workforce shortage has created, within the IVCCD region, 210 openings for nursing assistants, 30 open medical assistant positions and 50 vacancies of licensed practical nurses.

"[These are] examples of how dire this need really is," she said.

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.