Delaware Healthcare Partnership
The big picture
JOIN is investing in a partnership that brings together providers, educators, and workforce development organizations to advance the careers of low-wage workers and to promote the competitive position of employers. The Partnership offers career coaching, as well as a suite of trainings designed to meet both workers’ and employers’ needs.
The problem
Healthcare employers are encountering significant challenges in moving their entry-level workers into technical and mid-level positions. In focus groups, surveys, and individual meetings, healthcare employers said that entry-level workers lack three essential skills:
- Customer service skills key to delivering high-quality patient care.
- Practical skills necessary to move up the career pathway.
- Communications and problem solving skills important to working with supervisors.
In addition, many healthcare employers acknowledged that they do not have supervisors who are adequately trained to manage a diverse workforce.
The solution
The Partnership helps entry-level workers and job seekers improve their skills and position them for advancement. The Partnership provides participants with customized career coaching, as well as four sets of training:
- Technical training that prepares workers with credentials for technical careers in nutrition, mental health, physical therapy, EKG, and phlebotomy.
- Workplace ESL training that provides workers with English and cultural competency skills necessary for upward mobility.
- Math and English courses that address the skills needed to pass the Nurse Entrance Exams.
- Communication and leadership classes that are designed to improve quality of patient care.
The partnership also spreads effective practices among front-line supervisors. Together, these services help workers improve their earnings, while addressing the shortage of CNAs, LPNs and RNs, especially at long-term care facilities.
Partners
This partnership brings together the work of seven organizations who share a common interest in the prosperity and vitality of Greater Philadelphia:
The partnership is being managed by Pathways PA
PathWays PA began in 1978 as the Women’s Association for Women’s Alternatives, one of Pennsylvania’s first residential programs to keep low-income, vulnerable women together with their children.
It has grown to become one of the Greater Philadelphia region’s foremost providers of residential and community-based services for women and their children. Each year, PathWays PA serves more than 6,000 women, children and families who reside in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Chester counties through a full complement of social services, job training and employment assistance, outreach and residential programs.
While many industries are facing layoffs in the current economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that nationally the healthcare industry has grown by 348,000 jobs in the past twelve months and will continue to grow. The dramatic growth is evident right in our own backyard as Business Week reports, for example, that Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) seeks to hire more than 3,000 employees by 2011. The life sciences industry is currently the number one employer in the greater Philadelphia area, employing over 350,000 area residents which amounts to 11 percent of the region’s total employment and nearly 13 percent of the region’s total earnings. Since the region is facing economic and workforce challenges, including an aging population requiring expanded healthcare services and a dearth of direct care and skilled workers, it is imperative for the healthcare industry to develop innovative interventions that will enable the industry to grow their own high-skilled workforce.
The outlook for Allied Health occupations indicates continued growth through 2014. There are two levels of jobs within Allied Health:
- Technical-level jobs requiring a high school diploma and short-term training in occupations such as Pharmacy Technician, Supply Processing Distribution (SPD) Technician, and Telemetry Technician (drawing salaries of $28,000 to $46,000.)
- Mid-level positions, requiring a higher level of academic competency and some college credits or a college degree, including positions such as Radiographers, Medical Technicians and Technologists, and Respiratory Therapists (with salaries starting at $46,000, going up to $63,000.)
Note: The information above was provided by the Pennsylvania Partnership for Direct Care Workers.
