As you may recall, in late August last year, we announced the creation of the Alliance for Healthcare Education. This is a partnership among CoxHealth, Missouri State University, Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) and Springfield Public Schools (SPS).
The goal of the alliance is to be the largest producer of health sciences professionals in southwest Missouri. This is to address the shortage of health care workers, which over the last several years has numbered in the thousands between CoxHealth and Mercy. This includes professions like nurses, respiratory therapists, surgical technicians, etc.
The two main strategies are to prepare high school graduates with credentials to be able to:
- Join the health care workforce upon graduation.
- Enter directly into an OTC or MSU health care program.
In aligning with SPS and eventually other area school systems, we’ll have thousands of graduates in the pipeline with credentials.
Additionally, the alliance hopes to partner with other area health care providers to send adult employees to obtain their next credential – for example, to transition from an LPN to an RN or a nurse anesthetist.
Work that’s taking place
Cox College will close after they complete teaching their current classes. MSU and OTC will expand and develop new programs that can accommodate more students at lower costs that are associated with attending a public institution.
Right now, the alliance board meets once a month. The Ops Council, comprising leadership from alliance partners, meets weekly and there are other groups that meet on a regular basis, such as marketing and branding, finance, etc.
Among other things, the Ops Council is currently working on hiring an executive director – the first paid employee of the alliance. This person will lead the small group of professionals who will run operations for the alliance.
Each partner is working on everything that needs to be done in their respective organizations to get ready for the pilot launch in fall 2024 and the hard launch in fall 2025.
An upcoming Job Fair
Missouri State and OTC will hold a job fair in March for Cox College educators and other community members who would be interested in learning more about employment opportunities that will result from the expansion.
MSU is also working through curricular issues, accreditation, policies and personnel adjustments.
To maintain and grow the quality of health care in our region, we must grow the workforce. Our goal is to double the number of health care graduates in the next five years. It’s a challenge we must meet.
Thanks for all you do at Missouri State.
Clif