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Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.

LABOR DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES RETRAINING GRANTS FOR DISLOCATED HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Thurs., June 22, 1995

For more information call: (202) 219-6871.

The U.S. Department of Labor announces today its award of more than $5 million under a health care workers retraining program seeking to retrain workers at risk of losing their jobs. Thirteen demonstration projects in nine states will provide retraining to workers with funds appropriated through the Job Training Partnership Act.

"Health care workers are vital to every community," said Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich. "It's important that we do everything we can to help keep their skills updated to meet changing needs."

An estimated 10 million health care workers are experiencing unprecedented displacement as the industry tries to reconfigure its operations in response to intense pressure to reduce costs. With a total payroll estimated to be over $270 billion nationwide, health care work-force changes are bound to have significant effect on many local economies as well as on workers themselves.

With this demonstration program, the department seeks to assist health care workers who will be affected by current or projected restructuring.

1.

The Toledo Hospital, Toledo, Ohio $592,110 The Toledo Hospital will retrain 191 employees into a flexible workforce of multi-skilled workers equipped to work throughout the inpatient, outpatient, and home care settings. Targeted current jobs include LPNs, unit clerks, maintenance workers, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapy aides, admitting clerks, nutrition assistants, food service workers and clinical resource assistants. Workers will be retrained as patient support partners, administrative support aides, and patient care partners.

2.

The University of Alabama at (UAB), Birmingham $500,000 UAB will retrain 165 workers to become patient care technicians and 60 to become unit support specialists under its PC 2000 program. Workers in current job titles of environmental service specialists, EKG technicians, food service aides, patient escorts, phlebotomist, nursing assistants and patient care assistants, whose jobs were slated for elimination will be trained into two multiskilled, nonlicensed positions.

3.

Women & Infants' Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island with New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 SEIU/AFL-CIO $612,500

The hospital and District 1199 will target for retraining 300 union and non-union workers in single-function jobs into new multi-skilled positions. Included are 41 registered nurses from the hospital neonatal intensive care and oncology units.

4.

Lafayette General Medical Center, Lafayette, Louisiana $246,950

Lafayette General's Project People program will retrain 226 workers in current jobs such as registration clerks, unit secretaries, housekeeping, food service, nurse extender, patient escort and phlebotomist. Newly created service partner and administrative partner jobs will increase the flexibility and mobility of the workers within an integrated health care system.

5.

The Hospital League/1199 Training and Upgrading Fund and 1199 Hospital League Job Security Fund, New York, New York $275,767

1199/Hospital League Job Security Fund will retrain 105 health care workers for newly created positions. Registered nurses at Beth Israel Health Care System will be retrained into patient care manager positions. Unit/ward clerks, dietary workers and housekeepers at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center will train for registrar/receptionists and billers jobs, while non- professional clinical positions there, including nurses' aides/ assistants, will be trained for medical assistant jobs.

At Brookdale Hospital Center unit/ward clerks, dietary workers, and housekeepers will train for registrar/ receptionist jobs, while nurses' aides/assistants will train for medical assistant positions.

6.

St. Mary's Foundation, Reno, Nevada $247,401

St. Mary's Foundation will target 80 to 120 health care service, business/clerical and clinical workers. New roles will be established, such as patient care, clinical, service and administrative associates.

7.

Rhode Island Hospital, Providence Partners for the Future - with International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 251 and The Rhode Island Hospital Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals $352,066

At Rhode Island Hospital, a patient care process team designed a reengineered patient care delivery model, focusing on role redefinition, work simplification and patient placement. New roles were defined, including unit service coordinator, unit assistant, certified nursing assistant and case manager. LPNs and RNs also became a targeted group for assessment, retraining and education. Approximately 205 employees will be targeted for education and retraining.

8.

Methodist Hospital of Indiana, Indianapolis, Indiana $453,812 Methodist Hospital will retrain 225 at-risk workers in job categories including Rns, LPNs, unit secretaries, ancillary service technicians, housekeepers and food service workers. Employees will receive training in outpatient medical services, surgery, in-patient care, hospital support, home health, patient business and secretarial services.

9.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Industrial Services Program, Boston, with Service Employees International Union Local #285 and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Locals #3658 and #683 $403,778

150 health care workers at North Shore Medical Center in Salem will be retrained under a partnership of the Commonwealth, the medical center, and two unions representing the workforce. Seven teams comprised of nurses, management and staff are part of Health Care 2000, exploring better ways to care for patients. Twenty job categories are targeted for elimination, while 11 new job categories will be created by the restructuring. RNs, LPNs, technologists and technicians, orderlies, clerical staff, housekeepers and dietary workers will be retrained.

10.

Boston University Medical Center Hospital (BUMCH), Boston, with Local 285 Service Employees International Union $336,569

Healthworks collaborative, a labor-management collaborative which includes BUMCH, Boston City Hospital, and the Service Employees International Union Local 285, will retrain workers in current jobs at the hospitals in food and nutrition, environmental, and transport services; in medical records, patient financial services and clinical laboratory records. Successful trainees will be placed in multi-skilled healthcare provider jobs which will be created as part of the restructuring effort. Their original jobs will be eliminated. This restructuring effort is being undertaken as the two facilities begin to merge. The merger will involve a large urban public hospital and a private, non-profit hospital, and will be one of the first mergers of its kind in the United States.

11.

Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau, St. Paul , $410,945

200 health care workers at the St. Paul-Ramsey, Hennepin County Medical Center and University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic will be retrained in collaboration with the Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, and Teamsters Local 320. The demonstration will design, implement, and test early intervention retraining strategies to increase the capacity of Minnesota hospitals and unions and to enhance the mobility and employability of hospital service workers. Nursing assistants and orderlies, laboratory technicians and assistants, patient support services, clerical and administrative support personnel will be retrained in related or alternative jobs.

12.

Michigan Nurses Association, Okemos, Michigan $246,800

100 acute care RNs at Sparrow Hospital and The University of Michigan Hospitals, Ann Arbor, Michigan will be retrained as part of restructuring efforts which led to the creation of a number of specialty and primary care ambulatory clinics and a home health care agency. Nurses retrained through this grant will be redeployed within the two health systems to these community-based care settings.

13.

Service Employees International Union - Locals 790, 250, 535, San Francisco $471,810

Service Employees International Union will train 100 San Francisco Department of Public Health employees whose jobs are at risk as the health care system transitions from professions focused on critical inpatient care to more cost-effective outpatient care. A major training site will be San Francisco General Hospital. One-third of the participants will be RNs; the remainder are unit clerks, nursing assistants, health workers, and food service personnel employees. Workers in certified and non-certified positions will be retrained to staff the department's home health care unit, and for home care case management. RNs/LVNs, home health aides, physical therapists, occupational therapists and technologists are needed, as well as bi-lingual CNAs, LVNs and medical exam assistants, ward clerks and immunization managers.

Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.