In the rural healthcare landscape around the U.S., community health centers like ours face unique challenges in recruiting qualified professionals for patient care positions.
We compete with urban and suburban regions where healthcare education and jobs tend to concentrate and with regional healthcare organizations for our limited local talent pool. So, how do we stand out?
Providing competitive pay and benefits often isn’t enough. We must also shine a light on our unique workplace mission and culture, our Berkshire lifestyle, great schools and communities.
But we do more. We take charge of our own workforce development with on-the-job training to build our staff, and we financially support our team members’ professional advancement. As you’ll soon read, our first on-the-job Medical Assistant training program is now underway. We’ve also developed a pilot project for on-the-job training for dental assistants. Our preceptor program for newly graduated family nurse practitioners provides the mentorship they need to settle into new clinical roles and build their panels of patients.
We also offer financial support to employees who seek education to become registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. To help our doctors and nurses with student loan debt, we facilitate federal loan repayment support to help ease their financial burden.
Our commitment to investing in the next generation of healthcare professionals is also a commitment to ensuring the health of future generations of the Berkshire community.
By creating professional development opportunities for our team members, we support the Berkshires economy in addition to supporting hundreds of local families. We are proud that we offer long-time and new Berkshires residents easier access to healthcare, a doorway into healthcare professions, and an elevator to move upward in life and work.
