New program seeks to address health care shortages, educate Butler high school students
A Butler County school district, college and health care system are joining together to launch a program that seeks to address health care workforce shortages in the region.
Butler Area School District, Butler County Community College and Independence Health System, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, announced the Healthcare Pathways Career Readiness Program, which could bring a pipeline of potential talent to fill a growing need for health care workers.
“The Healthcare Pathways Career Readiness Program will provide our students with meaningful, real-world exposure to in-demand healthcare careers while they are still in school,” said Dr. Brian White, superintendent of Butler Area School District. ”Through hands-on training, mentorship, and work-based learning, students will gain a clearer understanding of career options and the skills needed to be successful in the workforce.“
The partnership formed in response to the area’s increased need for positions, such as nursing assistants, medical assistants, emergency medical technicians, laboratory technicians and essential hospital operations workers, the Tuesday news release said.
Healthcare Pathways establishes a school-to-work pre-apprenticeship that introduces students to a wide range of clinical, administrative, and support careers. The program will offer opportunities for students to earn credentials and college credit through BC3, and direct pathways into employment or registered apprenticeship programs.
This will be done through coordinated classroom instruction, hands-on training, job shadowing, mentors, and work-based learning experiences.
“Independence Health System is delighted to be a part of bringing the Healthcare Pathways Career Readiness Program to the Butler Area with the goal of blending classroom theory with hands-on learning for meaningful and successful careers in healthcare,” said Matthew Schnur, President, Butler Memorial and Clarion Hospitals, Independence Health System.
White said the plan is to have 20 juniors in the first cohort. Students will have two day rotations in different departments in the hospital.
During planning of the program, suggestions were made about future partnerships with other Butler businesses to engage students in the same way, he said.
The goal of the program is to build a sustainable local talent pipeline, supports stackable credentials and long-term career advancement, and expands equitable access to high-demand health care careers for Butler County students.
“This partnership brings together the strengths of our three organizations to create clear, meaningful pathways for students,” said Megan Coval, president of Butler County Community College. “Together, we are helping students explore in-demand healthcare careers that offer not only a living wage, but purpose, stability, and the opportunity to do work they truly enjoy, right here in our community.”
At Monday night’s school board meeting, high school principal Jason Huffman called it “a large endeavor,” and said the high school and district wants to look at using available class periods to “make that time purposeful.”
“When we started this conversation, one of the things we looked at was how could we get our students more purposeful experiences, and how can we get them experiences so they can gauge if maybe this is something they would want to do in life,” Huffman said.
He said the district looked at it from standpoint of how can we help hospital fill positions with the students we have.
White said the partnership can prepare students for graduation, and “long-term career success right here in our community.”
It was not immediately clear when the partnership would begin.
