New digital institute launched to enhance healthcare workforce development

A new digital platform has been launched to improve healthcare workforce development in northern New York.

Officials gathered Monday at the University of Vermont Health Network/Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh for the official launch of the Institute for Career Advancement in Medicine, a pilot program that creates a network of resources for people who would like to pursue or advance a career in health care.

Health Workforce New York CEO Richard Merchant says there are dozens of great career programs across the state, but they are not interconnected.

“This is an infrastructure, a unique innovative infrastructure, that has not existed In New York state, or anywhere for that fact, but is bringing all of those stakeholders together under one roof to be able to supercharge each and every single one of those training programs, incentive programs, employment programs in our region using digital technology and a platform along with targeted outreach and convening all of our key players and stakeholders, which include economic development,” Merchant said.

As the concept for the Institute coalesced, the founders determined it must be a digital infrastructure that is mobile accessable, interactive and feature real time information from community partners.

Health Workforce New York then worked with North Country Community College to identify high demand health care careers in the region. President Joseph Keegan says the college has been preparing generations of health care workers.

“The ideas were hatched here and the work will be launched here and that’s really a wonderful opportunity for us,” Keegan noted. “You know we all share the enduring desire for all of our families to have access to good quality health care and one of the greatest threats to that is the healthcare workforce. And what this promises to do is to make sure that that healthcare is there by ensuring that there is a healthcare workforce to be had.”

This is the first region in the state to pilot the program and North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas says that’s because it’s the best at regional collaboration.

“This is an important kind of self-help tool, if you will, in terms of enhancing skills and finding people and drawing them into health care that wouldn’t have happened otherwise but for this regional collaboration,” Douglas said. “It’s important in a great strategic sense as well. We are great believers at the Chamber that a quality economy is based on a quality community and a quality community is based on quality health care. So it all interlocks.”

Beekmantown High School sophomore Olivia Burgin has had an interest in a health care career and learned about the institute early this summer.

“It’s quite easy. There’s like a little menu bar and you get to see all the different opportunities. And then they have sub-subjects that you can go for like specific internship placements or just learning more about a career or taking like a career quiz. There’s like a different little section for everything you could think about medicine related,” explained Burgin. “So, basically when you do go on the website or on the app you can just kind of click on the area that you’re looking for. Which for me it was for hands on experience. So a lot of internship opportunities and I could look through what they had to offer and put in applications for what I was interested in.”

Merchant noted that while the initiative is starting in the North Country, there are already discussions about expanding the pilot to other areas of the state.

“We’ve already had an organizing meeting in Buffalo. There were over 60 participants, organizations that attended that. We’re trying to find the funding out in western New York. Central New York is another. And that’s primarily because Micron is moving into that area with thousands and thousands of employees,” Merchant said.

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation provided a $227,000 startup grant to create the Institute for Career Advancement in Medicine.