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jobs. Recruitment will be led by WCA, Nonprofit Westchester and its members, SUNY Westchester Community
College, Southern Westchester
BOCES, Career Centers as well as the Department of Social Services’ Office
of Work Opportunities and its partners, explains Jason Chapin, WCA’s director of workforce development. Some of
the positions the program will train for include clinical medical assistant, medical administrative assistant, and CNA; the program’s healthcare employer partners include ENT & Allergy Associates, Westmed/Summit Health, Open Door Family Medical Center, and United Hebrew of New Rochelle.
“We also submitted a $17 million federal grant proposal recently to train 1,000 RNs, LPNs, medical assistants, CNAs, lab technologists, and respiratory therapists in the Hudson Valley,” he says. In addition, WCA partnered with the county to host a major healthcare career fair earlier this spring.
Chapin believes an innovative way
to fill some of these jobs is to look to what he calls the “hidden workforce” — the often-overlooked pool of potential employees who are underutilized. “That includes veterans, people with disabilities, immigrants, minorities, low-income youth, ex-offenders, and recovering addicts,” Chapin explains, adding that the new HTPP program will largely pull from these populations. “We should look at the largest talent pool possible in order to quickly employ as many people as possible to fill these open positions.”
Whether they come from typical
or disadvantaged backgrounds, Westchesterites seeking careers in healthcare have plenty of options. There are eight accredited nursing schools in the county; New York Medical College makes its home in Valhalla and Touro College of Dental Medicine’s campus is nearby in Hawthorne; while Westchester Community College
offers a wide array of degree and certificate programs in all sorts of health-related fields including pharmacy technician, medical administrative assistant, phlebotomy, CNA and
others. And, NewYork-Presbyterian
recently partnered with Iona College
to develop the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which offers programs in key growth areas including nurse anesthesia, clinical nurse specialist, medical technician, and nursing administration.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNAL ADVANCEMENT
In many cases, once employees
get their foot in the door with a healthcare employer, there are frequent opportunities for career advancement and ongoing training. White Plains Hospital, for example, offers an “Earn While You Learn” program which, Wooley explains, “provides employees with education, training and job placement to help fill jobs that often require a specific skill set or specialty education that can be hard to find.”
It’s one part of the hospital’s overall strategy to keep a robust talent pipeline at the ready — for both recruitment and retention of talent. “We have a creative and innovative overall recruiting strategy, which includes establishing internal and external talent pipelines, developing incentive bonuses for hard- to-fill positions, and offering highly competitive benefits,” she explains.
Other initiatives at the hospital include a summer associate program and
winter nurse associate program, which offer junior nursing students entering their senior year of high school an opportunity to experience firsthand what it is like to be a nurse. The hospital has also partnered with the WCA on a “jobs waiting” program, where “we will offer mentoring, clinical experiences, work tryouts, and tuition assistance for career- advancement training,” Wooley explains.
Similarly, at NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, employees can participate in on- the-job trainings, including the
newly developed Operating Room Technician Residency program and the Registered Nurse Residency program. NewYork-Presbyterian also offers a paid summer internship experience
for family members of employees. “In partnership with select community-
based organizations across New York City and Westchester, our program will place participants at various clinical and non-clinical departments across NewYork-Presbyterian for on-premises experiences,” says Laurie Ann Walsh, MSN, RN, DNP, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services for the hospital. The goal of the internship program, Walsh says, is to “expose young adults to the breadth and depth of hospital professions.”
In addition, “we offer numerous programs for basic training and
skill development (such as basic computer skills, medical terminology), and other programs to enhance technical, clinical, and leadership development such as the residency programs, nursing leadership academy, continuing education and mentorship programs, as well as a comprehensive tuition reimbursement program for advancement of staff careers within healthcare,” she adds.
While there are still thousands
of unfilled healthcare positions in Westchester at any given time, it’s clear the industry is coming together with a cohesive path to help shrink that gap. And for Westchester residents looking for a career path with plenty of job security, healthcare is certainly a solid choice.
“Healthcare is probably the area where we have the highest shortage of workers. We’re seeing strong
need for positions like certified nursing assistants, medical assistants, and medical administrative assistants.”
- Bridget Gibbons, Director of Economic Development, Westchester County
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