Health Careers Partnership Wins National Award, Expands Relationships with Local Healthcare Providers

Health Careers Partnership Wins National Award, Expands Relationships with Local Care Providers

Health Careers Partnership earns Minneapolis Community and Technical College the Bellwhether Award. 

From left: Jane Foote, Academic Dean Nursing Program, MCTC; Dr. Josephine Reede-Taylor, Sr. Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, MCTC; Dr. H. James Owen, National Alliance of Community and Technical Colleges.

June 2005—On the heels of winning a national educational award for workforce development, the Health Careers Partnership has spent 2005 expanding its programs that connect aspirant healthcare workers with employers.

In January, Minneapolis Community and Technical College won the prestigious Bellwether Award in the category of workforce development. MCTC provides curriculum and instruction for the HCP. Considered the Heisman Trophy of community college education, the Bellwether Award recognizes cutting-edge, trendsetting programs nationally.

Organized in 2001 by the Phillips Partnership to fill employment gaps in at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Children’s Hospital and Hennepin County Medical Center, the HCP has grown into one of the largest and most successful hospital-based workforce development programs in the United States. More than 1,000 students have participated in the program. Thus far in 2005, 17 existing hospital employees have been sponsored to prepare for nursing and other health careers.

Initially focused on training unskilled workers in the Minneapolis Empowerment Zone for entry-level healthcare jobs, the initiative now includes a variety of accredited continuing education programs helping employees advance along career ladders. Its curriculum varies based on closely tracked market demand in the Twin Cities metro.

Jane Foote of MCTC says new offerings put the responsiveness of the HCP model into finer focus, addressing a range of hiring needs.

One new program, dubbed “Paving a Way,” has enrolled 20 HCMC employees since 2004 to ladder from an MCTC associate’s degree to a bachelor’s degree in nursing with Metro State University. The BSN degree is the gateway to management, says Foote, adding that current enrollees in Paving the Way range in experience from non-nursing support employees to one LPN.

A second new program planned for later this year will groom HCP alumni for health care management, says Cindy Bloom of Project for Pride in Living, the Minneapolis nonprofit that administers the HCP. “Career Climber” will prepare former Health Careers Partnership graduates now working at Abbott Northwestern Hospital for stafflevel leadership positions. As many as 12 students will compose the first cohort, says Bloom.

PPL also has undertaken a new contract with the Minneapolis Employment Job Training Program to broker between area healthcare providers and educational institutions. This effort, says Bloom, will also expand the employment opportunities for graduates of the HCP’s core training programs. Bloom describes the broker role as working with healthcare providers to identify both shortand long-term staffing needs, then leveraging HCP’s existing training model to improve the pipeline between providers and the potential labor pool. She said the scope could grow to include providers and schools throughout Minneapolis  and the surrounding area.

Abbott Northwestern Hospital Opens New Heart Hospital

At Abbott Northwestern, the Beat Goes On
New Heart Hospital Opens in Phillips

Abbott Northwestern’s new Heart Hospital opened in May. The building, located on the east side of the Abbott campus along 10th Avenue, adds 256 beds.

June 2005—Abbott Northwestern Hospital has expanded its 120-year presence in the Phillips neighborhood with the completion of its new Heart Hospital.

The $145-million facility opened in May after three years of construction. The 388,000-squarefoot building is located on the east side of the Abbott campus along 10th Avenue. It adds 256 beds, expanding space for cardiovascular services and providing new inpatient space for neuroscience, orthopedic and spine services.

“Abbott Northwestern has done more than build a new facility,” said Richard Sturgeon, MD, Abbott’s interim president and its representative to the Phillips Partnership. “It has deepened its commitment to building up the Phillips neighborhood as a regional destination for state-of-the-art community care. This means better community health, more community jobs and a larger market for local commerce.”

Abbott Northwestern Hospital has been ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” for cardiac care for the past three years. It has also been ranked as one of America’s Best Hospitals in the specialty of neurology and neurosurgery, which includes spine surgery.

A founding member of the Phillips Partnership, Abbott Northwestern Hospital is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a nonprofit network of hospitals, clinics and other health care services. Allina will further expand into Phillips in 2006 when it consolidates its regional corporate operations within the new Midtown Exchange. This move will add more than 1,500 mostly professional employees to Phillips.

Job Programs: 2004 in Review

Jobs Program Summaries, 2004

Health Careers Partnership 

• In 2004, 174 individuals took Health Careers courses.
• Course titles offered in 2004 were: 10 nursing classes, 2 nursing assistant courses, college English and Speech, 2 Biology courses, Phlebotomy, Chemistry and English as a Second Language.
• Of the 174 students, 76 individuals were sponsored by the partnership. 
• Of the 76 sponsored students, 49 individuals were eligible for Empowerment Zone dollars based on their residence, and 27 were funded in coordination with partner hospital tuition reimbursement programs.
• In 2004, the Project for Pride in Living staff placed 32 Health Careers participants in jobs. (Note: a number already have jobs and attend school, and a handful attend school full-time).
• The average wage of those placed was $11.02/hour.
• Of the 32 individuals placed in jobs, 9 of them were placed at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, 1 was placed at Hennepin County Medical Center and 22 were placed at facilities outside the partnership.
• In 2004 the partner hospitals had fewer training and hiring needs. In addition, restructuring and hiring freezes occurred at two of the hospitals. 
• Program expansion and outreach efforts have included talks with University of Minnesota Health Services, American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC), Summit Academy OIC, North Memorial Medical Center, Park Nicollet Health Services, Care Providers of Minnesota, Ramsey County health pilot and Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development.

Train To Work

• Six training sessions completed. 

• We have graduated 48 trainees and placed 31 of those graduates. The total number of placements to date this year is 47, including 16 graduates from last year. The most recent of hires have been in Nursing Assistant, Environmental Services, and Dietary Aide, positions.
• The partner hospitals have absorbed 90 percent of our recent new hires. More than half of the placements in the third quarter quarter were at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics Minneapolis. This is a very significant increase from previous quarters.
• Demographics: Ethnicities - TTW Graduates of 2004
  
  African 13
  African American 26
  American Indian 1
  Asian/SE Asian Pacific Islander 1
  Caucasian/White 5
  Hispanic/Chicano/Latino 2
  Total 48 – Graduates YTD
   
• Over the past seven years, Train to Work has placed 500 individuals. 
• Forty-four TTW graduates have gone on to take courses at the Health Career Partnership.
   

Other

Train to Work, Health Careers Partnership, and Financial Careers Institute personnel relocated to 810 E. Franklin Avenue in December.

Children's Hospital Opens New Outpatient Tower

Children’s Hospital Opens New Tower

"One more welcome addition to the landscape of the Phillips neighborhood." The expansion is the latest major investment by a Phillips Partnership member.

December 2004—A new addition has changed the look of the Children’s Hospital in the Phillips neighborhood. Opened in summer 2004, the “Tower” features four floors built on top of the south wing of the existing hospital building, adding more than 42,000 square feet of space, including a renovation of the existing second floor. The project has also added approximately 220 spaces to the existing public parking ramp adjacent to the hospital. 

“The expansion signifies our commitment on three fronts—to families who bring their children to us, to the professionals who help meet their health care needs, and to the Phillips community, our community” says Alan L. Goldbloom, MD, president and CEO of Children’s Hospitals and Clinics. “We also like to think of the Tower as one more welcome addition to the landscape of the Phillips neighborhood and symbolic of our commitment to the success of the Phillips Partnership,” said Goldbloom.

Built for outpatient surgery and clinic patients, the Tower greatly expands Children’s services for families. A check-in area is located on the renovated second floor, and two new 400-square-foot operating rooms are located on the third floor. The fourth floor houses specialty clinics and the fifth floor contains Children’s general pediatrics clinic. The signature elevator gives the Tower its name, running the height of the expansion. 

The $15 million Tower will add at least 50 new positions to Children’s Hospital’s staff, said Goldbloom. This is the latest in a series of major investments in the neighborhood by members of the Phillips Partnership. Next door, Abbott Northwestern Hospital has added $170 million in facilities in the past five years and has more than tripled (to 900) the number of employees who reside in south Minneapolis. Wells Fargo recently completed $175 million in expansions and improvements to its campus, producing 4,300 new jobs.