Colleges, Community Recruit Future Health Workers

The number of Americans over age 65 is expected to reach 71.5 million by 2030 — twice their number in the year 2000, according to The Maturing of America — Getting Communities on Track for an Aging Population report.

To take care of this population, the country needs to train 4 million health workers by 2016.

Educators, industry professionals and community members must spark students’ interest in medical careers — and in Minnesota, these three stakeholders are doing just that by forming partnerships through HealthForce Minnesota, a healthcare innovation center at Winona State University (WSU).

HealthForce Minnesota hosts three summer camps that give students a taste of health careers, said Ashwinder Kaur, the K-12 health science partnership coordinator. The five-day WSU Scrubs Camp allows high school students to tour local hospitals; learn about wilderness medicine, herbal medicine and physical exercise at Whitewater State Park; and conduct hands-on activities in numerous health fields.

This year, the group also held a Scrubs Camp for adults, most of whom were unemployed workers between the ages of 35 and 45.    

Because most current health care workers are older, they’ll retire in the next five to 10 years, and not enough workers are prepared to keep up with the growing industry, said Patricia Harris, the district director of health care education at Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona. 

“Right now, as a community college system, we can’t keep up with the demand,” she said.

The Arizona Commerce Department projects that pharmacy technician jobs will jump 57 percent, dental hygienist positions will rise 50 percent, and home health aide occupations will increase by 48.2 percent between 2006 and 2016.

In conjunction with the Arizona Education Department, Maricopa offers career exploration and dual enrollment programs to pique high school students’ interest in these fields. The colleges also work with the local Health Occupation Student Association chapter.
The students can learn about a wide variety of career pathways within health care through these programs and then choose which one is right for them.

“Through all the recessions I’ve seen,” Harris said, “[in health care] you have a good job, you have a passion that you’re fulfilling to help people, and there are just so many opportunities.”