TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — There is an unhealthy shortage of workers in the healthcare industry. Now an expanded healthcare training school on Tucson’s South Side will help prepare more workers to look after your health.
If you’ve ever had trouble getting medical care because they are just so shorthanded on trained medical workers, you’ll be happy to hear about this story. Pima JTED, a technical education schoolis opening a new building specifically dedicated to medical education.
A ribbon cutting in Tucson Friday opens the door to more than a building. It opens career opportunities for high school students to start down the path to medical careers.
Janae Pool is using JTED to train towards a career in mental health counseling.
“I saw this one, and it just really spoke out to me, and it made me really want to explore and see what this program can do for me, and this program has done nothing but give me so many opportunities and give me hands-on experience that I can use in the real world.”
Governor Katie Hobbs says the medical programs will help meet a growing need in a growing state.
“We have increased demand in every single sector and industry, and we have the workforce of the future right at our fingertips if we only tap into that. Our growing and aging population means that one of the workforce, one of the greatest workforce needs we have, is in healthcare.”
Rosa Ortiz graduated from JTED. She’s back there on the staff working with current students as she uses the boost JTED gave her, to succeed in the Pre-nursing program at the University of Arizona.
“I really like helping people, and then I really like helping little kids, because I want to become a pediatric nurse. So I feel like, if I get a stepping stone with helping high school kids, and it'll help me be prepared to become that pediatric nurse.”
Helping to create the new building is an expansion of Mel and Enid Zuckerman’s commitment to health. They founded Canyon Ranch, a series of resorts dedicated to healthy living. They are also behind the College of Public Health at University of Arizona.
For a hospital’s perspective on the need for more healthcare workers, we talked to Mimi Coomler, CEO of Tucson Medical Center.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says there will be 195,400 openings for registered nurses in Arizona from 2021 to 2031.
The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis predicts that next year in Arizona statewide we will have 28,100 fewer RN’s than we need. That’s a bigger gap than in any other state in the country.
Mimi Coomler of TMC sees the issue as a hospital CEO and as a Registered Nurse. We asked her what led to the shortage.
She says, “There has been a nursing shortage for quite some time and as the population ages and healthcare consumption grows, we needed to expand the overall nursing workforce. In addition, we saw a lot of folks retire during COVID. People opted out of working in healthcare, and there were a lot of different and new competitors."
Coomler says programs like JTED’s will play a significant role in getting more people into healthcare and says technology and artificial intelligence will help make jobs easier in the industry.
