A training project helps the poor. A rural healthcare facility offers job training, gains employees

As poor Americans look for work, healthcare facilities face a shortage of workers. One facility, Saint Francis Medical Center in Grand Island, NE, found a way to help some of the area's financially disadvantaged persons receive technical training and employment as it eased its own personnel shortage. Saint Francis leaders assembled a team of representatives from the hospital's staff, the Greater Nebraska Job Training Program, Lincoln, and Central Community College, Grand Island, to establish the Rural Allied Medical Business Occupations program. The team reviewed several job descriptions to help it decide which jobs to include in the program and surveyed area hospitals to ensure the positions selected were experiencing shortages. The program received a grant as a demonstration project from the U.S. Department of Education. After identifying participants who had the aptitudes and interests for the jobs, the Rural Medical Allied Medical Business Occupations program arranged for participants' training and assistance with items such as tuition, child care, and transportation. Participants received training at Central Community College and at Saint Francis Hospital. Saint Francis Medical Center deemed the program a success. The hospital has hired seven healthcare workers who would not have been available if they had not been trained through this program. Moreover, the program provides yet another way for the hospital to help fulfill a major portion of its mission: to help the poor.