State officials are working with a new regional partnership to create a healthcare workforce for the future.
It's called a roadmap, and like directions from point A to point B, this new document aims to provide a step-by-step guide for the public sector and private industry to work together to fill jobs in the health care sector. Former Health Secretary Bill Hazel is now the CEO of Claude Moore Opportunities, which helped develop this new tool.
"In the Roanoke area, there are hospital rooms that have been built but are not in use because there's a lack of technical assistants that enable surgery and frankly the anesthesia providers," explains Hazel. "So, it will vary a bit from region to region."
Marc Bailey at INOVA says the roadmap will help match the supply of workers to demand in the health care sector. And, he says a series of meetings are already underway.
"To come together and talk about the issues we're facing with shortages in health care employment and then kind of looking at how we can build a team together to work through those issues and build a workforce that will be sustainable," Bailey says.
The regional partnership includes chambers of commerce, the community college system, economic development professionals and workforce boards across Virginia.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
