WCA Launches Academy to Train Workers for Healthcare Jobs
The Westchester County Association (WCA) announced earlier this week a new plan to collaborate with regional healthcare providers and colleges to train workers to fill at least 2,500 unfilled jobs in the county.
Creation of the Hudson Valley Workforce Academy by the WCA will address the need to staff the vacant positions in the healthcare, technology and biotech sectors. The WCA, one of the top business leadership organizations in the area, has reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with its Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium to work together to address the need, said William Harrington, chairman of the organization.
The academy will offer its first short-term, certificate-based course, a five-week class on healthcare analytics, starting on Feb. 24 at its offices at 1133 Westchester Ave. in White Plains to help meet demand, Harrington said. The courses are open to the general public.
The organization also plans to apply for a $9.8 million federal grant through the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Investment Board that would pay to provide 425 long-term unemployed people and 75 currently employed individuals with intensive training so they are prepared for healthcare-related jobs.
Other courses will help prospective employees to become medical coders and radiology and MRI technicians along with specific training for positions in dealing with the public in healthcare settings. The WCA plans to announce a full schedule of courses in the near future.
Harrington said leaders in business, the nonprofit world, the medical field and academia realize that it is critically important to fill these jobs to provide more efficient healthcare, a $15 billion-a-year industry in the region. It is also a key to economic development.
“It is one of the drivers for the future of efficient and careful providing of healthcare and it’s been used in other industries for decades,” Harrington said.”Healthcare is going to catch up and it will catch up because they’re being driven to by the economies of scale.”
The MOU includes 16 higher education organizations, including virtually every college in the region, plus 15 regional healthcare providers, according to the WCA. The Suburban Hospital Alliance, comprised of more than 50 hospitals on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley, will also participate.
Representatives of the organizations that are participating in the joint effort said they were excited to be part of the program.
“We are acutely aware of the healthcare needs of today and how different they will be in the future,” said Donna McGregor, CFO of Crystal Run Healthcare. “Critical skills such as data analytics are vitally important in managing population health and the future of health care in many, many, many settings.”
Tony Mahler, senior vice president of strategic planning at Westchester Medical Center, said the initiative will improve healthcare and is in line with the center’s mission as an advanced care organization and teaching institution.
“As the largest healthcare employer in the region, we have a vested interest in ensuring that our workforce has the skills required to get the job done today and well into the future,” Mahler said.
Harrington said the initiative, which has its roots in the WCA’s Blueprint for Westchester to retrain workers and upgrade job development, is about helping people.
“We’re excited about our academy,” he said. “We think it’s a great idea.”
The healthcare analytics course is $595 per participant. For more information, including registration, and to look for upcoming courses, visit www.westchester.org.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/