Helping Entry-level Healthcare Workers In Sagging Economy

Education and networking are keys to helping laid-off healthcare workers who don’t just want jobs, but careers with room to grow. A program by Project for Pride in Living has expanded to help these displaced workers improve their education and their lives.

By Nancy Crotti, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing

Last update: May 6, 2009 - 10:15 AM

It's tough to climb the career ladder when you've been knocked off the lowest rung by a down economy. Project for Pride in Living (PPL), a Minneapolis nonprofit that works to help lower-income individuals gain greater self-sufficiency, recently expanded a program to help currently employed and recently laid-off entry-level healthcare workers to get back onto that healthcare career ladder and start climbing.

PPL works with area hospitals in the center of Minneapolis and recently broadened the program to reach other major Twin Cities healthcare employers it had been working with through a program called Progress Your Career to include all major healthcare employers in the area, according to Sarah Fryberger, the PPL employment specialist who directs Progress Your Career.

Several Partners Make It Work

PPL is working with the Minneapolis Public Schools to assess and improve the reading and math skills of incumbent and laid-off entry-level employees so they may take the ACCUPLACER, a college entrance exam for Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

The program also has a strong coaching and career counseling component, according to Julie Brekke, vice president of programs, fundraising and communications for PPL. "As much as we're talking about navigating the academic side of it, we're also talking about the networking side of it," Brekke says. "That's learned behavior in many instances."

Hard-to-fill Positions Still Exist

HealthForce Minnesota, a Center of Excellence in Healthcare based at Winona State University, funds Progress Your Career and approved the expansion to other employers, according to Jane Foote, executive director. HealthForce's mission is to help employers find workers for hard-to-fill jobs, such as in clinical laboratory science.

"Everybody has heard that the nursing programs are full, but the lab programs are not and the allied health professional programs are not," Foote says. "What Progress Your Career is trying to do is provide service to individuals for success to rethink and re-imagine how their careers might go. That's what is unique about it; it's got such a personal touch."

Because all program participants are committed to professional growth within the healthcare sector, much of the training so far has been on career assessment and planning, education planning, professional development for career laddering, as well as enhancing computer skills, resume writing and interviewing skills, according to Fryberger. PPL provides a free customized education and career plan for participants and a $25 stipend for every five classes they attend. The program is limited to 24 participants and recently had 19. Participants may also receive help paying for food and child care.

"We're just trying to remove any barrier to their academic success," Fryberger says.

For information on enrolling, call PPL 612-455-5296 or visit www.ppl-inc.org.

Recent Jobs: Healthcare Careers stories

All in a Day's Work: Louise Montague, OTR/L - May 6, 2009

All in a Day's Work: Louise Montague, OTR/L - All in a Day's Work: Louise Montague, OTR/L, of ErgoResults, Inc. in Brooklyn Park, an occupational therapist and certified ergonomics associate who works at job sites, talks about her job. She discusses why she became an OTR/L, what a typical workday is like, and how his role fits into the bigger healthcare picture. More

Dental Technicians Create Smiles - May 6, 2009

Dental Technicians Create Smiles - Dental technicians mold, carve, color and set the teeth in dentures and fixed dental prosthetics like crowns, bridges and implants. Although technology is reducing some of the mundane tasks, dental technicians still need skill and creativity. More