The launching of a $1.5 million workforce opportunity grant aimed at recruiting, training and employing healthcare workers living in rural Acadiana-area communities was announced on Wednesday at the Opelousas Acadiana Workforce office.
Labeled as the Country Roads Inclusion Program, the healthcare employment and educational initiative intends to seal a working partnership among regional housing authorities, the St. Landry Community Action Agency, Southwest Louisiana Community College, LSU-Eunice, Opelousas General Health Care Systems and Ochsner Health System.
The multi-parish AWS agency is one of three recipients to receive the workforce opportunity grant for rural communities located in three regional areas of the United States, according to a press release.
Qualified applicants for the training and employment program can receive transportation assistance, educational preparation, paid work-based learning experiences and connections to employers in the healthcare fields, the press release said.
St. Landry Parish president and Region IV Workforce CEO Jessie Bellard said the program marks the start of an“out of the box” effort at educating and employing additional health care workers in the Acadiana area.
Bellard added that the Country Roads Program represents a “team effort” among higher education and various parish agencies that assist with recruiting applicants and providing workforce and educational transportation.
St. Landry CAA executive director Lashanda Leday said the agency plans to mobilize five transportation vans for students and workers.
Region IV Workforce director Brenda Foulcard noted the program represents a unique plan that involves all the partners who prepare workers for jobs in critical health care areas.
“There is a great need for this program in areas where there is poverty and unemployment,” Foulcard pointed out.
There is the possibility that the program could eventually employ as many as 450 health care workers,” Foulcard pointed out.
Foulcard added that the program should be considered “significantly important,” for improving and meeting the health care needs of the Acadiana region and training workers that may need some type of assistance with their education.
Ochsner Health Care CEO Patrick Gandy said that the Country Roads Program represents the opportunity to provide a private and public partnership that should help transform Acadiana communities.
“It presents the opportunity to solve the growing need for skilled healthcare workers that will be hired by healthcare providers in the region,: Gandy noted.
The healthcare training provided by LSUE and SLCC will facilitate educational “pathways” for nursing careers and skilled professionals, Gandy said.
OGHS CEO Lance Armemtor identified the program as “cutting edge and life changing.
“It will bring together multiple resources. It is also something that will allow people in these communities to change their lives,” Armentor said,
SLCC assistant dean Harmony Rochon and LSUE Chancellor Nancee Sorenson said each university already has programs in place to provide training in the various health care fields.
Sorenson pointed out that LSUE has maintained an Acadiana workforce office located on campus.
“When you are able to put all of these resources together, then together we can do amazing things. All of us here bring different things to the table to achieve that goal,” Sorenson added.
Work Force Announces $1.5 Million Training Program
BOBBY ARDOIN
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