Southeast Louisiana Business Center and Northshore Healthcare Alliance partner for Department of Labor grant

Contact: Tonya Lowentritt

2/7/12

     HAMMOND Southeastern Louisiana University and the Northshore Healthcare Alliance (NHA) have formed a regional partnership to implement a U.S. Department of Labor Employment Training Act grant for the healthcare sector.
     According to Jan Robert, executive director of the Northshore Healthcare Alliance, the grant targets healthcare workers in the Florida parishes Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes who are being transformed by technology and innovation and require new skill sets.
     The university’s Southeast Louisiana Business Center will work with NHA in offering the program. Other regional partners supporting the project include Northshore Technical Community College (NTCC), WIA Area 20 One Stops and the First Planning District Workforce Investment Board.
     “The short-term goal of the project is to train healthcare workers for advancement and increased job retention,” Robert said.
     The program, known as Careers that Heal, will use regional healthcare educators at the Southeastern School of Nursing and NTCC to provide instruction and on-site skills training to certified nurse assistants in technology, and soft skills and patient care competencies through short term site based training.
     “Training strategies are based on best practices to increase retention and improve wages of the employees,” Robert said. “Additionally, 60 allied health and nursing professionals will be trained by NTCC instructors in technology skills to enhance performance in the workplace.”
     As part of the Careers that Heal grant, the partners are also reaching out to 2,000 secondary eduation students in Tangipahoa and St. Tammany Parish high schools. The students will be provided information and career pathway materials to illustrate how to begin a healthcare career.
     Robert said healthcare will remain the largest source of job growth nationally in the coming years, with 3.5 million new jobs added across the sector by 2016. The Louisiana Workforce Commission reports 311,630 people are currently employed in the healthcare sector.
     In 2011, healthcare accounted for 14,177 employees in St. Tammany Parish and 8,852 in Tangipahoa Parish, placing those parishes among the top 10 employers in the sector in the state. Top demand occupations include registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nurse assistants and home health nurses.
For more information, contact Robert at 985-789-1382 or log on to careersthatheal.com.

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