The Curry Innovation Center opened its doors to the public on Thursday to announce it new partnership with the Laurel Highlands CNA Training Hub
ALTOONA, PA – Saint Francis University’s Curry Innovation Center held an open house this Thursday, Oct. 9, to introduce its new partnership with the Laurel Highlands CNA Training Hub (The Hub). The Hub is a project of the Training & Education Fund aimed at creating more CNAs to help solve our area’s healthcare staffing needs.
“Saint Francis University has a long and proud history of preparing compassionate, highly skilled healthcare professionals,” said University President Fr. Malachi Van Tassell, TOR, Ph.D. “Through this partnership with the Laurel Highlands CNA Training Hub, we’re able to extend that mission beyond our campus walls to meet a critical community need. By combining our academic expertise with the Hub’s innovative approach, we’re helping to grow the local caregiver workforce and strengthen healthcare access across the region.”
Thursday’s event drew a crowd of stakeholders, including industry and community leaders, local organizations with an interest in the issue, and local residents curious about the new CNA Training Hub.
“We’re so excited for this partnership with Saint Francis University and the Curry Innovation Center,” said Training & Education Fund Executive Director Lisa Williams. “This is a tremendous opportunity to do some real good by training more caregivers to serve this community. I think we’re going to do great things for Altoona and the surrounding areas.”
The Hub does more than just offer CNA classes and access to testing sites. It screens potential candidates to discover any roadblocks they may face to success and works to remove them. They find help with transportation, child care, and more.
“The fact that we help enrollees get access to these wrap-around services in the community is essential,” said Kayla Thomas, case manager for the Hub. “Childcare, transportation, and even extra money to pay for supplies – other CNA programs aren’t providing that help, and it’s often crucial to their success.”
.With support from Saint Francis University and the Curry Innovation Center, the Hub is currently recruiting new participants for its next cohort and seeking to hire nurse aide instructors—both full-time and per diem—in the Altoona and Johnstown areas.
About the Training and Education Fund
The Training and Education Fund is a nonprofit organization aimed at enhancing the quality and care of services in the healthcare industry. We support healthcare workers by helping them achieve their career and personal development goals and aid healthcare employers to foster a stable, highly-trained workforce to meet the needs of all Pennsylvanians.
About Saint Francis University’s Curry Innovation Center
The SFU Curry Innovation Center in downtown Altoona, Pa. is intentionally designed to bring together entrepreneurial, progressive leaders who thrive on the ability to think limitlessly and identify solutions that ultimately deliver real-world, real-time outcomes. Inside the space, strategic business and educational collaborations work to produce solutions that will impact everything from healthcare and other industry workforce readiness and STEM literacy to improving advanced manufacturing processes for regional businesses.
