The Training & Education Fund is expanding its Nurse Aide Training Center in Western PA with a new Pennsylvania Industry Partnership Grant
PITTSBURGH, PA – In an effort to combat the ongoing staffing crisis in Pennsylvania’s long-term care industry, the Training and Education (TEF) is expanding on the success of its Pittsburgh-based Nurse Aide Training Center with a new Nurse Aide Training Hub to serve the Western PA region.
The new training hub is being funded with a nearly $400,000 PA Industry Partnership grant in conjunction with the PA Workforce Development Board (PA WDB), the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I), and the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).
“We’re excited to be able to expand the great work we’re already doing in these communities,’ said Lisa Williams, executive director of the Training & Education Fund. “Our mission has been to enhance the quality of care and services in the healthcare industry and support long-term care workers. This new partnership will not only help us continue that crucial work but it will increase access to much-needed family-sustaining jobs in our communities.”
The new Nurse Aide Training Hub will partner with the Southern Alleghenies Workforce Development Board, the Greater Johnstown Career & Technology Center, and industry employers like Saber Healthcare, Transitions Healthcare, LGAR Health and Rehabilitation Center, and Windber Woods Senior Living & Rehabilitation Center, as well as SEIU Healthcare PA, the state’s fastest-growing healthcare union, to help to bring more caregivers back to the field. The hub will coordinate regional resources to connect employers with nurse aide training providers and other community support services and help remove barriers and link those interested in healthcare careers with training, support, and employment opportunities in the long-term care sector.
The best care is delivered by a stable, highly-trained workforce but PA’s long-term care industry has been in the midst of a staffing crisis for many years, one only exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. In recent years, long-term care workers have been leaving the industry in droves and those who have stayed suffer from burnout due to massive understaffing. Recent workforce data and estimates show that around 30% of the Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) workforce has left the bedside altogether and too few new caregivers are entering the long-term care field to replace them.
“CNAs are an incredibly important component of the care we deliver,” said Cody Meenan, Divisional Vice President of Operations for Pennsylvania and Delaware, Saber Healthcare. “They are the backbone of a nursing home. As one of PA’s premier care providers, we’re excited to work with the Training & Education Fund to find new ways to develop the caregiver workforce. We hope this can be a model for doing even more to build a strong healthcare workforce across PA.”
“[Certified Nursing Assistants/Health Aides] are high-priority occupations as well as one of the fastest-growing opportunities within the Southern Alleghenies Region, “said Jennifer Sklodowski, Director of the Southern Alleghenies Workforce Development Board. “We’re looking forward to working with both the Training Fund and our industry partners to find new ways to provide good jobs that lift up our communities.”
“Pennsylvania desperately needs more well-trained CNAs.” said Matthew Yarnell, President of SEIU Healthcare PA. “Training and support programs for people who want to start a career in healthcare as a CNA are often incredibly difficult to access. This new Nurse Aide Training Hub is an exciting solution to a perennial problem facing our workforce. It would bring more caregivers to the bedside and it would mean better care for the people who need it most.”
This new Industry Partnership Grant is one of several the Training & Education Fund and its partners have received this year alone to help augment and expand its programming aimed at building and supporting a stable, highly-trained healthcare workforce to meet the needs of Pennsylvania's aging communities and those with disabilities.