If we give Delaware students the right skills, great health care jobs await
Dr. Neil Jasani is chief people officer at Christiana Care Health System and associate professor of Emergency Medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
Recently, a team of Delaware public high school students played the role of teacher when they presented a medical case study of a concussed football player to health care experts, parents and county officials.
The teens had researched the case and treatment approaches as part of Christiana Care Health System’s Health Career Academy, a 12-week program that teaches ninth-12th-graders what it’s like to work in health care. Mentored by medical students, the bright, engaged kids were excited to share what they had learned.
These young people — and others like them — represent a bright future for Delaware. As a physician, I see in them the same kind of curiosity and desire to make a difference that led me to a career in medicine. And as chief people officer at Christiana Care Health System, I see in them the vibrant, skilled health care workforce that we need to make Delaware a national leader in health care and biosciences.
Health care is a strong growth sector and important to our state economy. In 2017, the national nonprofit Information and Innovation Technology Foundation ranked Delaware as one of the top five states nationwide in innovative areas like biotechnology.
This is a moment of great opportunity for Delaware to establish itself as a national innovation corridor, with health care and biotechnology as the catalysts. A key part of that is ensuring that we’re building a workforce that includes not only doctors and nurses, but also technicians, engineers, researchers, IT professionals, laboratory and support staff. These are good, living-wage jobs that strengthen our community, diversify our economy and attract new investment.
As the largest private employer in Delaware, employing more than 11,600 people, Christiana Care is committed to nurturing our young talent and inspiring Delaware’s youth to explore careers in health care. Through a wide variety of programs, partnerships and initiatives, we are helping to build a careers pipeline that will enable us to meet the growing needs of our industry. We also are working to increase the diversity of our health care workforce, so that our leaders, innovators and care providers reflect the community they serve.
The Career Academy is one such program — a partnership with Main Line Health and New Castle County Route 9 Library and Innovation Center. Alone or with partners, Christiana Care currently offers 20 workforce pipeline development programs, and we continually look for opportunities to grow. These programs expose middle and high-school students to professional and paraprofessional careers in clinical areas, like acute and preventive medicine, and non-clinical settings, including food service and facilities management.
We don’t stop with high school. For example, in a program that’s a first-of-its-kind in the nation, Christiana Care’s Gene Editing Institute at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute has partnered with DelTech to create a community college curriculum using revolutionary CRISPR technology for gene-editing. The initiative educates college students in cutting-edge science rarely accessible at the undergraduate level.
Another example is our clinical immersion program for biomedical engineering students in partnership with the University of Delaware. This past year, the Graham Cancer Center hosted three UD students who were given the opportunity to work with surgeons and learn firsthand about the hospital and operating-room environment, so that they will be better equipped to develop the tools and technology of tomorrow’s patient care.
Christiana Care is a teaching health system with more than 280 residents and fellows each year. We partner with numerous colleges and universities to provide nursing, allied health and undergraduate education. Always, our purpose is to enable current and prospective health care workers to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing landscape of clinical care and medical research.
Readying students for the work world is a cornerstone of our organization’s commitment to serve. The physical and economic health of our state hinges on smart, curious young people, like those in the Career Academy and those studying at DelTech, pursuing jobs in growth sectors.
We believe it is incumbent on all of us — business leaders, policymakers, educators — to create opportunities that will inspire and prepare our youth to seek in-demand jobs in these areas.
Governor John Carney recently announced a $3.25 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies that will help bolster the Delaware Pathways program, a collaboration of school districts, businesses, higher education, national advisory partners and nonprofits — including Christiana Care Health System — that offers students the chance to gain work-based experience and earn college credits. In part, the grant will support the creation of a new regional pathway in health care.
This grant exemplifies how strategic public/private partnerships can propel growth, build a workforce pipeline and contribute to a vibrant job market and economy. It demonstrates that Delaware stakeholders can — and often do — align to promote the best interests of our state and its young people, both today and for tomorrow.
Delaware’s future health is in the hands of our youth. We all must work together to inspire them and create opportunities for them to thrive.
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