National Skills Summit

National Skills Summit
Innovative Initiatives: Health Care and Child Care

District 1199C Union of Hospital Workers and Health Care Employees, AFSCME: Training and Upgrading Fund

The Challenge:

To attract new workers into the home and community-based health care industries, and to provide hospital workers with the opportunities for growth and upward mobility in the industry.

The Solution:

Offer front-line service providers the training and skills required to advance in other sectors of the health care industry, and to recruit and train new front-line care givers from a pool of welfare recipients seeking work.

The Partners:

District 1199C Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and 60 cooperating employers operate a Training and Upgrading Fund for union members and others in the Philadelphia community.

U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $4.49 million Welfare-to-Work grant to District 1199C to operate Project CARRE (Creating Access, Readiness, and Retention for Employment), which trains welfare recipients to become nurse aides and offers scholarships to attend nursing school.

Integrated Health Systems, Inc., a national nursing-home provider, provides staff to mentor, supervise, and support nurse aides trained in Project CARRE.

The Story:

Over the years, Donna Giddings worked in two different hospitals as a phlebotomist, unit clerk, care support associate, and environmental service worker. However, this series of lateral moves did not lead her towards higher levels of responsibility or a higher income. Donna knew that she wanted to remain in the field of health care, but she decided that she could only stay by moving away from her care-giving function. She enrolled in a medical claims processing course offered by District 1199C's Training and Upgrading Fund. In this 18-week, full-time training program, Donna completed coursework in medical terminology, medical coding, billing, mathematics, and office software. She now works for Mercy Keystone as a medical claims examiner, a job she has held for the past year and a half. For the first time in her life, she feels like she has a career.

As health care jobs shift out of institutions and into home and community care, many workers are leaving the field of care giving but wish to remain in the industry. New recruits must be found to take their place on the front lines of care-giving. The Training and Upgrading Fund prepares union members as well as others in the Philadelphia community for jobs as health care technicians, nurse aides, home health aides, mental health/mental retardation technicians, and licensed practical nurses. In addition, the Fund trains those selecting new jobs as medical claims processors and child care workers. Most courses are 16-week, full-time training programs. Continuing education programs in basic education, computer technology, pre-college courses, and other courses to enhance existing careers such as public speaking, are offered at times convenient for working people.

District 1199C also offers Project CARRE, a Welfare-to-Work program which provides welfare recipients with Nurse Aide certification, pre-GED English and math classes, and LPN training. Participants in this program obtain 20 hours per week of paid work experience and clinical experience in a nursing home for an additional 20 hours. Successful completion of this 40 hour per week, 16-week program may lead to a financial scholarship award in the LPN training program. Sixty major health care employers, including the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, the American Cancer Society, and numerous nursing homes, have hired Project CARRE graduates.

Union members covered by the Training and Upgrading Fund are eligible for tuition reimbursement. Full-time members can receive up to $5,000 per year for approved college and vocational course work, workshops, and seminars. Scholarships are available to full-time members after one year on the job. Scholarships include a book and uniform allowance, continued health and pension benefits, a cost of living stipend, and tuition of up to $10,000 per year for study in health related fields. Medical school is even a viable option under this program.

A Model of Innovation:

The reality today is that many existing health care providers are interested in remaining in the industry only if they can move into new occupations. However, changing methods of care-giving require more care providers than ever before. The Training and Upgrading Fund does double duty by helping retrain former care providers so they will remain in the industry while recruiting new care providers to take their place as they move up. Over the past five years, the Fund has enrolled approximately 450 laid off hospital workers, retrained 306 in new skills, and assisted 419 in finding employment in one of the new emerging fields of health care.

Contacts:

Henry Nicholas, President
National Union of Hospital Workers and Health care Employees, AFSCME
1319 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-735-1300 (p)
215-735-9878 (f)

James T. Ryan, Director
District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund
100 S. Broad Street, 10th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19110
215-568-2220 (p)
215-563-4683 (f)