HCA healthcare investing $300K to improve access to healthcare careers

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HCA Healthcare, based out of Nashville, announced this week multiple HCA Healthcare Foundation grants, through its Healthier Tomorrow Fund, to provide high school students early access to careers in healthcare, and to connect unemployed and underemployed jobseekers with healthcare career opportunities.

The foundation is giving $250,000 to community colleges and universities and $130,000 to the Urban League of Broward County.

It will work with community colleges and universities to help high school students learn about various healthcare careers through a number of grants. For instance, the foundation is giving $50,000 to Austin Community College (ACC) to fund the Future Healthcare Heroes program, which selects 30 rising juniors and seniors to be paired with a professional mentor from either ACC or a healthcare institution in the region to learn from and attend experiential learning events. These include roundtable discussions and tours of local healthcare learning facilities and hospitals.

Metro State University of Denver is receiving $50,000 to fund their Designing Your Life workshops, Navigating Your Healthcare Career event and Health Equity lecture to help build awareness and generate interest in a variety of healthcare careers.

Miami Dade College is receiving $50,000 towards their Care Cadre Nurse Exploration Experience, which brings 24 high school students together from historically marginalized backgrounds to generate interest in healthcare careers in nursing leadership.

The foundation is also giving $50,000 to Pensacola State College to help fund the Nurse Explorer Boot Camp to help expand and accelerate the nursing pipeline by bringing 12-20 high school students together, aiming to inspire them to pursue a career in nursing.

The University of Texas at Arlington is also receiving $50,000 to expand on its existing dual credit initiative to help provide a complete experience for high school students, including nursing, exercise science, public health, and other healthcare-related fields through recruitment and experiential learning activities.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

In addition, the HCA Healthcare Foundation is giving $130,000 to the Urban League of Broward County as part of the Healthcare Workforce Enhancement Initiative. Through the grant, the Urban League will pilot a workforce development program for those who have been disconnected from the workforce to explore careers in the healthcare field. Their model includes career assessment and coaching, credentialing and job placement assistance.

The Healthier Tomorrow Fund has provided $2.68 million through 21 grants to support access to healthcare careers. In 2022, the fund gave $905,000 through 15 grants, according to HCA.

HCA said it continues to invest in efforts to further healthcare education and address the national nursing and caregiver shortage. Over the 2021-2022 school year, for example, there was engagement with students in every HCA Healthcare division through partnerships with local high schools, including healthcare career programming, guest speakers, job shadows and field trips.

THE LARGER TREND

In 2020, HCA Healthcare acquired majority ownership of Galen College of Nursing, one of the largest educators of nurses in the U.S., and has now opened 12 new campuses.

HCA has also committed $10 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to advance diversity in the healthcare career pipeline. Since 2021, HCA has announced about $6.75 million to multiple colleges and universities towards that commitment.

As well, it established the Patricia Frist Memorial Scholarship to support dependents of HCA Healthcare colleagues in pursuing post-secondary education.

Since its inception in 2021, the Healthier Tomorrow Fund has committed $18.3 million in grants to 51 organizations, HCA said.
 

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: Jeff.Lagasse@himssmedia.com