Workforce Outreach: Partners & Regions
Kentucky Hospital Association and Talent Pipeline Management®
February 2024
Top Partners Across the State
- Statewide Workforce and Talent Team
- Healthcare Workforce Investment Fund Steering Committee (HB 200)
- Business and Education Alignment Taskforce
- Kentucky Area Health Education Centers (AHEC)
- Advisory Board Members for Jackson Purchase, West, South Central, and Statewide
- Bluegrass Planning Consortium
- Council on Post Secondary Education
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Kentucky Community and Technical College System
- AmeriCorps and KY HealthCorps
- Health Careers Collaborative of Greater Louisville
- Louisville Health Care CEO Council (CEOc)
- Kentucky Association for Healthcare Recruitment
- Multiple local Chambers of Commerce
- HealthForce Kentucky
- South Central Workforce Development Board
- Greater Louisville Inc.
- Health Enterprises Network
- Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR)
- KYValor
Regional Breakdown of Engagement and Special Projects Underway
North Central Region
36 hospitals and 40 partners engaged
- The Bluegrass Planning Consortium consists of educators and employers planning clinical rotations for over 40 years. This has become a seamless and collaborative process as opposed to the “first come, first serve” practices across the state. We are exploring the potential ways that we could share this “best practice” with other regions.
- The northern Kentucky and Lexington Metro collaborative will meet again at the end of February to focus on K-12 engagement efforts across the region.
- Conversations with hospitals have led us to understand that there is a lack of clinical/nursing program faculty/instructors across the state, which inhibits work to increase the pipeline into programs. In partnership with the HCCGL and CEOc, we are exploring the potential of a pilot training program for instructors in the Louisville area. This will focus on current nurses and retirees who are eligible per KBN regulations.
- The Louisville collaborative will launch in late February/early March.
Western Region
18 hospitals and 42 partners engaged
Special projects:
- Letters from Home – Jackson Purchase AHEC has a staff person dedicated to staying in touch with medical school students to encourage them to return home, which may be replicated at other AHECs.
- The FUSION program in Chistian County focusing on educating and training students with work-based learning options working with local employers.
- HealthForce Kentucky is an effort to inspire careers in health care by providing broader access to the highest levels of instruction and technology. This unique collaboration involves nine colleges and universities and numerous school districts across 16 counties in Western Kentucky.
Eastern Region
19 hospitals and 29 partners engaged
Special projects:
- The Pikeville Medical Center Academy is a specialized program that allows eighth-grade students and first-year high school students to shadow different medical professionals on the Pikeville campus. The program recently kicked off with its first 25 students. The cohort visits the medical center regularly for hands-on healthcare experience.
- Bus to Business® is a statewide initiative focused on bridging the gap between classrooms and careers to better equip students to make career choices. There has been a significant amount of interest across the Eastern KY region.
South Central Region
19 hospitals and 18 partners engaged
Special projects:
- Future Healthcare Professionals (FHP) is a free program that introduces high school students to the healthcare field. Programs occur in the evening at local hospitals, community centers, libraries, and schools. Throughout the program, students are introduced to various health careers through the study of anatomy and physiology, hands-on activities, service projects, guest speakers, and field trips. Past activities include CPR/first aid certification, suturing lessons, solving a medical forensics case, learning to intubate, and measuring vitals. Participants have also taken field trips to healthcare facilities and cadaver labs.
There are multiple options for FHP delivery: as an evening after-school program, as a day camp during school breaks, incorporated within the school day as a club, or within health science classes—ample opportunity to partner with Bus to Business®. - Health Career Explorers is a program for high school students in Hardin County who are interested in learning more about different health professions. Throughout the program, students visit various departments at Baptist Health Hardin, learning about each department and talking with health professionals. In some departments, students will experience simulated medical procedures.
