Healthcare Leaders Select Seven Employers as Champions for Frontline Workers

9.12.18  •  by Josh Enoch  •   Press Release

CareerSTAT recognizes practices that benefit employers, entry-level workers, and patients

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 12, 2018) – Seven U.S. healthcare employers have been selected as the 2018 Frontline Healthcare Worker Champions and Emerging Champions by their peers. The recognition comes in the midst of Workforce Development Month and focuses on business practices that are proven to benefit employers, employees and patients.

“This opportunity has changed my life,” said Elissa Perlo, who is part of the medical assistant apprenticeship program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. “It’s given me financial independence, confidence and a sense of purpose.”

CareerSTAT, an employer-led initiative of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, marks its fifth year of sponsoring the champion program. It recognizes employers who are making great strides to support healthcare’s critical entry-level employees – nursing aids, medical assistants, food service workers, housekeepers, and others who make up the frontline workforce.

This year’s Champions and Emerging Champions have engaged supervisors as career coaches, designed employee education programs that prepare workers to advance, and established healthcare apprenticeships.

Champions

Emerging Champions

“We congratulate this year’s Champions for their commitment to developing the careers of frontline workers,” said Joyce McDanel, vice president of human resources and education of UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa, and chair of the selection committee. “These organizations have shown that this kind of investment improves retention, increases engagement and leads to the best possible care for patients.”

The seven employers will be honored at CareerSTAT’s Healthcare Connect conference in New Orleans in October. More information on all of the Champion organizations is available on the CareerSTAT website.

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More Information on the Four Champion Organizations

District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund (Training Fund) is a nonprofit, labor management education and workforce development partnership – a collaboration of more than 50 contributing employers in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, and National Union of Hospital & Health Care Employees District 1199C. Through its partnerships, the Training Fund serves over 9,000 frontline workers. Since its creation in 1974, it has served both union and community members with a mission to provide students with access to a full spectrum of life skills, education, and training opportunities.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock is a nonprofit academic health system serving communities in northern New England. Dartmouth-Hitchcock provides access to more than 1,000 primary care doctors and specialists in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, New Hampshire’s only academic medical center. Home to a National Cancer Institute-recognized comprehensive cancer center and the state’s children’s hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was named one of the 100 Great Hospitals in America by Becker’s Hospital Review (2016) and the #1 Hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report (2018).

East Alabama Medical Center is a 340-bed regional referral hospital in Opelika, with an affiliate hospital in the nearby town of Valley. The two hospitals employ approximately 3,400 people, making East Alabama Medical Center Lee County’s second largest employer. The medical center provides acute and chronic health services, in addition to non-mainstream services, such as outpatient rehabilitation therapy services, a diabetes and nutrition center, a skilled nursing facility, and a nursing home. Its mission is to provide high quality, compassionate healthcare, which drives its commitment to workforce investment.

Washington Association of Community and Migrant Health Centers brings together 27 federally qualified health centers located in urban, rural, and tribal settings across the state of Washington. The health centers serve over a million residents at more than 250 sites, offering primary, preventive, and supportive health services. The clinics are directed by local consumers and respond to the needs of the community, serving all without regard to economic or insurance status. As a trade association, Washington Association of Community and Migrant Health Centers provides training, technical assistance, workforce development, data analysis, and policy support to its members.

More Information on the Three Emerging Champion Organizations

Loretto is a leader in comprehensive healthcare services in Central New York. As the fourth largest healthcare provider and the sixth largest employer in the region, the 2,500 exceptional people at Loretto’s 19 locations deliver care to close to 10,000 people of all ages, income levels, and care needs in Onondaga and Cayuga counties each year. From adult day programs and short-term rehabilitation, to assisted living communities and skilled nursing facilities, Loretto is actively investing in its employees, medical research, and new technologies to improve care in its community.

Staten Island Performing Provider System is an alliance of clinical and social service providers focused on improving the quality of care and overall health for more than 180,000 Staten Island residents who receive Medicaid or are uninsured. There are more than 12,000 healthcare workers in its network, and 70 partners across the continuum of care, with Staten Island University Hospital and Richmond University Medical Center co-leading the network. Staten Island is one of 25 similar groups created across New York State to help healthcare and community-based providers reform the Medicaid system to transition to a value-based payment system based on patient outcomes.

Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System provides quality healthcare to veteran patients throughout 23 parishes in southeast Louisiana. Services include a community living center, primary care, mental health, tele-health, surgery and other specialty care. In the last year alone, they served nearly 45,000 veterans. Southeast Louisiana Veterans provides the highest quality of care and service to veterans through investments in frontline workforce development programs and employee engagement.

About CareerSTAT

CareerSTAT is a network of healthcare leaders promoting investment in the skills and careers of frontline workers. It supports healthcare organizations in using workforce development programs to increase business impact, improve health outcomes, and provide good jobs. CareerSTAT promotes innovative practices and policies for advancing frontline workers, produces an array of resources on the benefits of skill and career development, recognizes organizations leading the industry as Frontline Healthcare Worker Champions, and supports organizations developing investment programs. CareerSTAT is an employer-led initiative of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and is generously supported by The Joyce Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. To learn more about CareerSTAT and its partners, visit: http://www.nationalfund.org/careerstat.

About the National Fund for Workforce Solutions

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions is a national network promoting economic opportunity and prosperous communities through investment and innovation. Based in Washington D.C., the National Fund partners with philanthropy, employers, workers, public and private community organizations, and more than 30 regional collaboratives to invest in skills, improve systems, and generate good jobs. The National Fund supports civic and business leaders in promoting evidence-based practices and policies that build shared prosperity. Learn more about the National Fund and its local partners at www.NationalFund.org.