Cleveland hospitals facing a worker shortage are partnering to offer training

Lisa Pointer needed a job. She's a mom to 3-year-old twins, and their father recently died.

"I was living in Washington, D.C., and I lost my kids' father to COVID, and I was propelled to go back to work," she said.

Lisa Pointer's babies lost their father to COVID-19 at a young age, and Pointer became a single mom who needed a job to provide for her family.

She moved back to Northeast Ohio to be with her family, where she learned about the new On-Ramp training program through a member of her church.

People interested in jobs at Cleveland-area hospitals take part in an eight-day virtual, training session at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). Participants who complete the free training are also given a stipend to help with other expenses and are guaranteed an interview at either the Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth or University Hospitals.

The program will train Cuyahoga County residents for entry-level jobs, such as nursing assistants, respiratory therapy, and lab technicians, said the Cleveland Clinic’s Kiersten Kanaley.

“We’re reaching a pivotal moment, with the aging population, aging workforce, burnout from the pandemic, and a national labor shortage, and frankly the lack of health care graduates,” Kanaley said.

The hospitals plan to hire 100 full-time workers by June 2022, with what officials called sustainable wages.

Local hospitals officials say they expect to have to fill some 85,000 job openings over the next decade. The healthcare sector in Northeast Ohio currently employs more than 300,000 workers.

This training program was already in the works before the pandemic, but the worker shortage has only gotten worse, said Adrianne Shadd from University Hospitals' human resources department. Hospitals are seeing more people quit the industry due to burnout and not enough money.

"We were seeing either the current workforce, the entry-level population, there was some skill gaps," Shadd said.

The pay will be competitive and enough to support a family, Shadd said. The program will also provide tuition assistance and other support.

"When we're looking at the life barriers that could hinder somebody from not only finding secure employment but sustaining employment, that's one of the things we made sure was critical to this program," Shadd said.

To do that, the program partners with Towards Employment, which offers career training and support services through the training and six months after the person is hired.

Towards Employment can connect participants with resources like legal clinics, food banks, and housing assistance, Shadd said.

Since the training program is virtual, Towards Employment can also help participants access it if they have technology barriers, said Kiersten Kanaley, Cleveland Clinic's Executive Director of Talent Acquisition Operations.

"Towards Employment is a local, job creator and talent supporter, and what they're able to do is provide those resources to the member," Kanaley said.

Lisa Pointer is now working as a community health worker at University Hospitals.

She had initially spoken to the UH recruiter about a different role, but part of the program is finding the perfect match for employee and employer, officials said.

"She looked at my background because before I became a stay-at-home mom, I worked on a research grant in Washington, D.C for HIV prevention," Pointer said. "The work I did was very similar to what I'm doing now as a community health worker, being able to collect data, being able to pair patients with resources."

Now, her little sister is going through the program too. She doesn't know what she wants to do yet for her health care career, but that's the beauty of the program, Pointer said. She said for her, it was a perfect match.

For more information, visit tri-c.edu/onramp.

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