NERETA Summit to Tackle Critical Shortage of Healthcare Workers

Scranton, PA, July 13, 2018 --(PR.com)-- This year, for the first time in history, healthcare has surpassed manufacturing and retail to become the largest employer in the country. And, healthcare occupations are expected to increase by 18% in the next ten years with one-third of all new jobs in the country expected to be in healthcare.

The problem is that the supply of healthcare workers is not keeping pace with demand.

"There are ways to fix this crisis if we work together," said Colleen LaRose, President and CEO of the North East Regional Employment and Training Association (NERETA). "That is why NETETA is holding a summit called, 'Developing a Talent Pipeline for the Healthcare Industry' in Scranton, PA on September 17 and 18 to help local regions strategize collaboratively about how to address these challenges," she continued.

The website for the summit is: summit.nereta.org.

This summit has three goals:

1) To help regions from across the country develop talent pipelines for the growing healthcare industry
2) To help local administrators establish a healthcare sector/cluster strategy for their region
3) To help healthcare professionals establish a working relationship with workforce development, economic development and higher education professionals to collaboratively promote healthy communities.

Regions from across the country will be represented at this summit by local teams made up of workforce development, economic development, higher education and healthcare industry professionals who will be together at the summit to learn how to collaborate in their local region to address this pressing healthcare talent pipeline issue. Additionally, after the summit, these teams will receive further mentoring through an eight-month course (one webinar per month) to keep them focused on their local recruiting, training and retaining talent planning.

As Julene Campion, Vice President of Talent at Geisinger and a member of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board said in a recent interview, “Too often education creates programs without employer input. So, while students may successfully complete an educational program, they may not acquire the skills and/or competencies required for the role and therefore are less employable.”

"With the growing demand for healthcare workers, we just don’t have time to waste getting this wrong," explained LaRose. "That is why we are asking regions to take this team approach, led by industry, by coming to the summit and participating in the follow-up course. Together, we can define local strategies for assuring a talent pipeline for the healthcare industry and have a positive impact nationally as well, she concluded."

NERETA is hoping that Healthcare Industry experts will act as the catalyst in their region to reach out to workforce development, economic development and higher education professionals to put together a local team.

For those not sure how to contact individuals in their region to be a part of their team, here are some helpful links to find them:

Find My State and Local Workforce Development Board:
http://bit.ly/workforceboardspa (Pennsylvania is used as the example here...but just put in your state to find your local workforce board)

Find My State/Regional/Local Economic Development Board:
http://bit.ly/stateecdevorgs (This is a list of state economic development organizations. Give your state organization a call and they will help navigate you to your local economic development organization.)

Find My Local Higher Education Organization:
https://collegestats.org/colleges/all/# (They recommend that you start at the President’s office of the college or university you are calling and share this letter with them.)

If individuals trying to put together local teams are still having trouble contacting potential team members, or would like more information about the summit, they may call NERETA at (570) 559-2017 for assistance.

Individuals are also welcome to attend the summit, but the summit experience and follow-up course will be much richer if individuals can be a part of a local/regional team.

Please do note that this is a one-time event. In 2016, the NERETA summit focus was on manufacturing. In 2017, the NERETA summit focus was on the high-tech industry and supporting entrepreneurs. 2018 is of course focused on healthcare. Planned for 2019 is a focus on the energy industry and for 2020 the focus will be on the food industry and agriculture.