New Program at Havermale Promotes Health-Care Jobs
By McLean, Mike
A new grant-funded program to be launched next fall at Havermale High School here will offer students a head start toward careers in health care and could provide additional potential workers for a field seen as having work force shortages.
The program, called Allied Health Career Academy, will prepare students for entry-level health-care jobs, such as nursing assistants, health-record clerks, and pharmacy technicians, says Fred Schrumpf, Havermale’s principal. Along with helping students to gain credentials for such starting jobs, the program also will strive to encourage students to continue their health-care education through Spokane Community College programs in hopes of guiding them to higher-paying jobs, Schrumpf says.
Students who complete the program at Havermale will obtain- college edits, certified nursing assistant credentials, internships,” and paid work experiences, Schrumpf says.
Without further training, a student will be able to expect to earn, at least $9 an hour. A certified nursing assistant, for example, earns about $19,000 a year, he says.
“Students could, in fact, get jobs in the health-care field (through the program), but would have minimal certification”. Schrumpf says. “It’s a place to start,” but we’re hoping it’s not a place they are going to end.”‘
The program will be funded with a $100,000 state grant, which will be administered by the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council in collaboration with Spokane Community College, St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, and Providence Health Care.
The term allied health care refers to jobs that don’t require four-year college degrees in about 30 health-related fields, Farber says, adding that programs such as the Allied Health Career Academy are needed to avoid a critical shortage of workers in some fields.
The demand for Emergency Medical Technicians, for instance, was expected to grow by more than 25 percent between 2004 and 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor says.
“This innovative project will help connect youth to careers in the vital field of health care,” says Mark Mattke, workforce strategy and planning director of the Spokane work forced development council. “Youth who learn about and get interested in rewarding careers while still in high school do better in their studies and stand a better chance of graduating and succeeding in post-secondary education and the work place.”
Havermale High School, located at 1300 W. Knox, has about 400 students and is intended as an alternative to Spokane Public Schools’ more traditional high schools.
Classroom work through the Allied Health Career will begin in the fall and will include college-level courses in math, science, and health care. Some students also plan to take introductory allied health-care courses this summer at Spokane Community College through the program, Schrumpf says.
Kalli Herpin, a senior at Havermale, says she’ll take advantage of one of those grant-funded courses this summer.
“I was planning to get a job – like afast-food job – and get my own place,” Herpin says. “Now, I’m going to put that off, do the training, and get a better job.”
Herpin says that introductory health-care class will involve two weeks of classroom work and a week of hands-on training. She says she might pursue a two-year degree in medical sonography or radiology.
Kassie Hughes, a junior at Havermale, plans to take Allied Health Career Academy courses next year at the high school.
Beyond the initial short-term certificate, Hughes says she’s interested in pursuing further education in the field of electrocardiology.
If students choose to continue their health-care education and pursue a two-year associate degree, they can expect to earn much higher wages than those who
don’t. For instance, a physical therapist’s assistant with a two- year degree can earn nearly $40,000 a year, Schrumpf says.
Spokane Community College counselors will begin working with students in the program on the Havermale campus, he says.
“Students will get a lot of support between high school and college,” he says. “Counselors can even help students here make their college schedules.”
Dawn Karber, youth coordinator with the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council, says about 25 students have signed up or shown interest in the Allied Health Career Academy.
“We hope to take students who would not have considered college and show them that it’s an option for them,” Karber says.
Says Terri McKenzie, vice president of student and instructional services at SCC, “Spokane Community College has been working with Havermale High School for the past several years to encourage students to consider post-high school professional, technical, and transfer education. When we began, many of the students had never considered college. Now, because of the work of the faculty and staff at Havermale and SCC, students are discovering a future they had never imagined.”
Copyright Northwest Business Press Inc. May 29, 2008
(c) 2008 Journal of Business; Spokane. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.