Through October 4, Weekly Report will profile the nominees for this year’s Community Health Leadership Award, which will be given out at the Annual Meeting October 11 in Seattle. Learn more about the award.
The American health care system is facing a coming shortage in health care professionals in various occupations, including a shortfall of as much as 121,000 physicians by 2030, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges. To foster interest in the health care field, MultiCare Health System has partnered with numerous local partners — including CHI Franciscan Health, University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma Community College, Bates Technical College, Goodwill Industries and the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation — to establish the Health Careers Collaborative.
The program will begin this fall at Stadium High School in Tacoma, with 75 freshmen. The students will attend regular high school classes in the morning and then spend the afternoon in a cohort focused on health care, with an introduction to health care careers, health informatics and biology.
The strong community partnerships make this program unique, with field trips to higher education facilities as well as MultiCare and CHI Franciscan facilities. One of the program’s guiding principles is “equitable success,” making a conscious effort to ensure under-represented students were included in the first cohort. Read more from the News Tribune. (Tim Pfarr)
