Health Care

Workforce Updates

December 2023

Elder Abuse Prevention Certificate course begins in January

Lifespan's Elder Abuse Prevention Certificate program, offered in partnership with the Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center, begins on January 9. This 10-class course (20 noncredit contact hours) offers a unique opportunity to enhance awareness and skills in safeguarding older adults.

Courses are held every other Tuesday from 3-5pm between January 9 and May 14, 2024.

Licensed social workers in NYS are eligible for 2 CEUs per class.

Click here to learn more.

NYS OMH announces Community Mental Health Loan Repayment Program - Round 3

New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) has announced round 3 of the Community Mental Health Loan Repayment Program (CMHLRP), which will provide a minimum of 500 awards for additional titles working in eligible mental health programs.

For Licensed master social workers (LMSWs), licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), licensed mental health counselors (LMHCs), licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs), licensed creative arts therapists (LCATs), licensed psychoanalysts,  licensed psychologists, the OMH CMHLRP provides up to $30,000 in loan repayment over a three-year period.

Applications will be reviewed and accepted until funds are exhausted. More information can be found here.

NACCHO offers toolkit to promote DEI in public health workforce

NACCHO and HealthTeamWorks have created a robust toolkit for local health departments to address the pressing topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Download the toolkit here.

On Thursday, December 7 at noon, NACCHO will host an introduction to the toolkit, how to best use it, and will feature three people whose DEI work was highlighted in the toolkit. Click here to register. 

Virtual dementia education series for health care professionals is underway

The Alzheimer's Association Chapters of New York State and the Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center are again offering their virtual dementia education series for health care providers. Click the links in the session names below to register:

• December 7 at noon - Frontotemporal Dementia: Review of Differential Diagnoses & When to Refer

In addition to this training series, The Alzheimer's Association offers a variety of training and support groups for professionals and family caregivers.

Registration is open for winter 2024 Exploring Racism Groups

A new cohort of Exploring Racism Groups is beginning in early 2024. Exploring Racism Groups provide an opportunity for organizational leaders to grow in their knowledge about racism, understand their own biases and perspectives, and become an antiracist by taking action to promote racial justice, and to break down the structures of racism in their own spheres of influence.

The program is offered in twelve 90-minute facilitated sessions and cover a variety of issues including:

• Bias, prejudice and self-deception
• Black experiences of life
• White experiences of life
• Recognizing forms of racism
• Anti-racism engagement

There is no fee for participation. Click here to register by December 8, 2023.

A 30 minute video is now available with information on the ERG program and makes the case for understanding the impact of racism on your business and our community. If you have questions about the ERG program, please visit https://exploringracism.org and use the “Contact us” page.

New report on public health career pathways now available 

The National Consortium for Public Health Workforce Development has identified public health pathway programs, particularly those with a focus on people from historically underrepresented and underserved communities, as a successful intervention to diversify and strengthen the government public health workforce, in both the immediate and long term.

Read “Public Health Pathway Programs: An Urgently Needed, Valuable Intervention to Strengthen the Government Public Health Workforce” to learn more and to identify actions you can take to help recruit, retain, and support a workforce that can best serve their communities and advance health equity.

On December 11 at 2 – 3 p.m., join “Leveraging Pathway Programs to Build a More Robust and Diverse Governmental Public Health Workforce,” a live webinar featuring a brief presentation, panelist discussion, and Q&A session. Click here to register.

ColumbiaX offers free public health advocacy training

Billions of dollars in public health funding have been cut, crucial laws have been revoked, yet public health students aren’t always taught how to understand and create policy change. Learn public health advocacy strategies and tactics from seventeen engaging, expert speakers and over twenty real-life examples.

This free course is self-paced with 12 weeks of learning content. Click here to register.

Toolkit for trauma informed workplaces now available

The "Toolkit for Trauma-Informed Workplaces," provided by the Center for Trauma-Informed Practices and Policy, offers practical insights and strategies to create supportive environments. Access the toolkit here and empower your organization with a compassionate and informed approach to workplace well-being.

Funding application for Nurse Faculty Loan Program now open

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty nationwide.

The Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) provides funding to accredited schools of nursing to establish and operate a student loan fund and provide loans to students enrolled in advanced nursing degree programs who are committed to becoming nurse faculty. In exchange for completion of up to four years of post-graduation full-time nurse faculty employment in an accredited school of nursing, the program authorizes cancellation of up to 85% of the original student loan amount (plus interest thereon). The program also encourages Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to serve as full-time preceptors within an academic-practice partnership framework.  

HRSA will award approximately $26.5 million to up to 90 grantees over a period of one year.

Eligible applicants are domestic accredited schools of nursing with advanced education nursing programs. Click here to view the NOFO for a complete eligibility information.

The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET on February 5, 2024.

RIT Certified offers new courses for the health care field

New health sector training opportunities are available from RIT Certified, including:

• Mastery Certificate: Behavioral Health Foundations
• Mastery Certificate: Digital Health Transformation
• Fundamentals of Healthcare Information Systems
• Exploring Patient Symptoms: Physical and Mental

Click here to search the RIT Certified catalog.

CDC Foundation release rural health communications guide

On National Rural Health Day, November 16, 2023, The CDC Foundation released Strategies to Improve Communication and Messaging in Rural Populations: Guidance for Supporting Vaccination, a guide on reaching rural Americans. This resource was created in partnership with rural, frontier and tribal public health advocates to promote the importance of vaccinations through direct, effective communication to these diverse populations from those who best understand the needs of their own communities.

Worker wellbeing resources available from CDC and Mental Health America

• Explore the latest insights on workplace well-being with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) "Impact on Wellbeing" initiative aimed at creating a system where health care workers thrive. Click here to access valuable resources and tools aimed at enhancing the health and well-being of employees.
   
• Unlock a wealth of resources for promoting mental health in the workplace with Mental Health America's (MHA) Workplace Wellness Resource Center. Click here to explore workforce research, and resources aimed at both employers and employees to empower your organization in fostering a supportive and positive work environment.

New report on equitable career navigation for economic mobility now available

Unlocking Economic Prosperity: Career Navigation in a Time of Rapid Change is a new report from the Harvard Project on Workforce and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions that dissects the field of career navigation to identify the drivers and barriers that disproportionately prevent Black, Latinx, and Indigenous individuals from economic mobility. The paper evaluates the evidence and practice of career navigation and identifies core design principles, concluding with a set of stakeholder recommendations and research gaps that should be further explored.

WNY R-AHEC offers social determinants of health training

WNY R-AHEC is offering a self-study course focused on social determinants of health. The course is available at no charge thanks to grant funding. This course provides an introductory overview of the non-clinical factors in rural communities that impact health outcomes. This is an ideal course for anyone who is beginning to learn about the social determinants of health. There are continuing education credits available at no charge. Visit www.r-ahec.org under the Workforce tab to sign up for the course. If you have any questions, contact Jason Fulkerson, jfulkerson@r-ahec.org

Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center, Inc. (WNY R-AHEC) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Boards for Social Work (#SW-0685), Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Mental Health Practitioners (#MHC-0268) as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers, physical therapists and assistants, occupational therapists, and assistants, and licensed mental health counselors.

IHI to host online course to promote joy in work

Starting in March 2024, The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is hosting "Creating Workforce Joy and Well-Being," a 12-week program that will cover practical approaches to address burnout and promote overall well-being among healthcare professionals. The program will explore resilience building, effective team collaboration, work-life integration, and the importance of patient-centered care.

Click here to learn more about the course, including the training schedule and fees.

Study of Rochester Black Nurses Association presented at APHA conference

Congratulations to Anika Griffiths, program assistant at Common Ground Health, for her poster presentation of “If we don’t…then who will?: How black nurses shape community health through collective action in Rochester, NY” at the American Public Health Association Conference in Atlanta last month!

Please share your health care workforce updates

If you have a training opportunity or workforce update you'd like us to share, you can send it to melissa.pennise@commongroundhealth.org, and we will add it to the next newsletter.

Please share this newsletter with others in your organization who might benefit and encourage them to sign up to receive it. 
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