Shakespeare’s Richard III saw his reign as king, and his entire family’s claim to the British Crown, hinge on a quick exit from the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last conflict of the War of the Roses. “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” he proclaims in Act 5, scene 4.
It is often the case that mighty plans and great designs fail, at the last minute, because a small but important detail overwhelms the bigger picture. For King Richard III it was simply lack of a horse. For Idaho’s death penalty this week, it was a challenge finding the right blood vessel.
Finding the right place to insert a syringe needle is trickier, and requires more training, experience, and pure skill than many appreciate. In Idaho, and 38 other states, needle insertion to inject something into the bloodstream (such as an intravenous therapy, or “IV”) requires advanced training and a licensed medical professional.
But in eleven states, with specialized instruction, IVs can be connected by a “phlebotomist.” Web MD describes phlebotomy as “when someone uses a needle to take blood from your vein, also called a blood draw or venipuncture.”
According to the Idaho Medical Academy, most courses to train a phlebotomist take only 3-4 months to complete. It is a far more “accessible” job in medicine than other fields requiring two- and four-year degrees. It tends to be an excellent “feeder job,” employment that puts food on the table and gas in the car while the phlebotomist attends part-time college or takes online courses to advance in more specialized fields of medicine.
Like any base of a pyramid, if we need a large number of skilled professionals able to insert IVs under the most challenging and difficult circumstances, it helps if you start with an even larger population of working phlebotomists who learn the basics and see thousands of different muscle and bone structures affecting access to blood vessels.
That the Idaho Department of Corrections was unable to find an appropriate blood vessel suitable for carrying out the death sentence of notorious mass murderer Thomas Creech this week is not actually surprising. Phlebotomy, like a growing number of other medical skills, is seeing skyrocketing demand and scarce availability.
This puts “phlebotomists” on Idaho’s list of “in-demand skills.”
Back during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation experienced a horrendous injustice caused by existing safety nets. Employers were shut down, had to send their workers home, and then saw their unemployment taxes paid to keep those employees at home even as the business was trying to start back up.
Many employers were no longer competing for talent against other businesses. They were competing with their own federally enhanced pandemic unemployment checks. Unemployment taxes, paid by employers, were keeping workers at home on the couch. The outraged employers collectively demanded a new approach from workforce agencies across the country.
“Instead of paying people to sit on the couch, could we use those dollars to enhance their skills?” With more skills, employees would earn more working than on unemployment. It was a win (for employers), a win (for workers), and a win (for taxpayers).
Some of the more dishonest players in Idaho’s political debate want you to forget this history, but this is how LAUNCH in Idaho started, as a straightforward program to get one more phlebotomist and one fewer couch potato.
It may seem like a small issue. What’s wrong with people collecting assistance and choosing to stay home? What was the value of a horse to the King of England?
The debate over whether to even have a death penalty is one of Idaho’s most weighty and value-defining debates. But the whole question can be jeopardized by a small detail — we haven’t trained enough phlebotomists.
Trent Clark of Soda Springs is President and CEO of Customalting Inc. and has served in the leadership of Idaho business, politics, workforce, and humanities education.
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