Health Force Kentucky is a unique collaboration involving nine colleges and universities along with P-12 school districts in 16 Kentucky counties to create greater accessibility to the highest levels of instruction and training for careers in health care.
The shortage of health care professionals is a national, if not global, phenomenon that impacts the quality and availability of health care. The Commonwealth of Kentucky chose to invest in an initiative to address this crisis, passing legislation to authorize 38 million dollars.
The post-secondary institutions participating in HealthForce Kentucky are:
- Brescia University
- Kentucky Wesleyan College
- University of Louisville
- Western Kentucky University
- Elizabethtown Community and Technical College
- Henderson Community College
- Hopkinsville Community College
- Madisonville Community College
- Owensboro Community and Technical College
Also participating are the P-12 school districts within 16 counties that comprise the post-secondary institutions’ service areas.
A 35,000-square-foot facility in Owensboro, Kentucky will house high-technology simulation labs, classrooms, and a medical lab. This will be available for use by all participating educational entities to provide the highest level of instruction to supplement their in-school programming and instruction.
Additionally, HealthForce Kentucky operates two mobile labs – HealthForce 1 and HealthForce 2 – to deliver these same technologies throughout our service area. Schools in the service area can schedule visits for on-site demonstrations and instruction.
HealthForce Kentucky representatives are working directly with P-12 districts to help recruit students into health care professional programs, with a designated recruiter assigned to each school to assist them in their efforts.
As part of the collaboration, the post-secondary institutions and the P-12 districts work to share instructors and resources to provide more offerings among the districts and post-secondary institutions to expand class availability while also reducing the cost of instruction. As HealthForce Kentucky does not confer degrees or diplomas, our collaboration with these institutions and use of shared resources is key in reaching more talented students in the 16-county footprint.
HealthForce Kentucky is a 501(c)(3) corporation. Its board of directors includes representatives from each of the post-secondary education institutions, the Executive Director of the educational cooperative representing the P-12 school districts in the region, a member of the Kentucky Nursing Home Association, and the President/CEO of Owensboro Health (which provided the building for the Owensboro facility described herein).
HealthForce Kentucky is truly an innovative approach to education and training and should become the model for other professional and workforce training.