“Changing Faces, Changing Places:

Demographic Shifts in Small Towns and

Rural Regions”

A Community Approach to Prepare

Tomorrow’s Healthcare Professionals

Chris Turley, BS, MS

Director of Workforce Services

Bluegrass Area Development District

Lexington, KY

Objectives

• Demonstrate how working collectively and

collaboratively with industry and post secondary

institutions can proactively create and promote future

opportunities for the future healthcare workforce in rural

and small towns.

• Illustrate how the local Workforce Investment Board built

a partnership of local healthcare professionals and post-

secondary institutions to proactively address the future

workforce.

• Spur potential ideas within participant’s communities

and become a catalyst to create similar collaborations.

Bluegrass Workforce

Investment Board

Mission: To develop proactive workforce partnerships: 'Connecting

employers with employees.'

• Formed by Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998

• Plans, oversees, and evaluates workforce service delivery in the a 17 county region of Central Kentucky

• Comprised of a majority (51%) of private sector employers

Bluegrass Healthcare

Consortium

Mission:

Partnering to provide and sustain a sufficient and

competent healthcare workforce.

Vision:

Driving change in the healthcare workforce.

Values:

Respect, Integrity, Innovation, Excellence, Commitment,

and Collaboration (Equity and Integrated).

Consortium Goals

• Development of a nonresidential healthcare

boot camp for middle school and high

school aged students;

• Increase collaboration with educational

systems to promote healthcare careers,

degree programs, as well as anticipate and

address future workforce shortage concerns.

MCSI Camp Background• Reason for MCSI – current shortage of qualified healthcare

workers is only predicted to grow due to retirement of the

baby boomer population. Develop opportunities to prevent

youth outmigration in the region.

• Camp curriculum developed by a subcommittee of

consortium members and Spencerian College faculty.

• Target – middle school students with interest in a healthcare professions.

• Camp goal – to introduce students to future required science

classes and various healthcare careers.

• Developed marketing brand and logo created.

• MCSI Sponsored through donations by healthcare consortium

members, industry partners and community donors.

What is MCSI?

• A series of one-week health

career camps for middle

and high school students in

Central Kentucky

• Non-residential

• Hosted by the Bluegrass

Healthcare Consortium

• Offered at Spencerian

College (Lexington) Campus

MCSI Purpose

To expose students to the variety of health care professions and introduce them to the relevant coursework and educational requirements leading to those careers.

Camp Marketing

• WIB staff market the camps to:

• local middle schools

• school PTA’s

• Math & Science teachers

• local news outlets

• The camps are also marketed on the local

WIB website: www.bgwib.com.

• Flyers are distributed to the school systems

Who can Participate?

Designed for

middle and high

school students

who are seriously

interested in

pursuing a career

in the health care

profession.

Selection Process• Students submit a completed application

• Beginner camp applications are reviewed by a selection committee– Area healthcare professionals from the Bluegrass Health Care

Consortium

– Staff from the Bluegrass Area Development District.

– Spencerian College staff

• Beginner camp applications are ranked and selected based on specific criteria– GPA

– Extra-curricular activities

– Essay

– Letters of recommendation

• Previous students are permitted to return for the Advanced camp if they have completed the prior year’s camp requirements without a selection process

What do the students do?

• Learn from college faculty and health professionals

• Learn firsthand what it takes to succeed as a health

professional

• Participate in a structured educational curriculum

from college professors

• Hands-on activities

• Clinical observations

MCSI Beginners Camp

Activities for Beginner Camp, include:• CPR Training

• EKG’s

• Medical Lab

• Radiology

Field trips to…• Sullivan School of Pharmacy

• UK Minimally Invasive Surgery Lab

• UK Outreach Science Center

MCSI Advanced CampActivities for Advanced

Camp, include: • Eyeball dissection with instruction by

an optometrist

• Fetal pig dissection

• Computer simulation exploring body

systems

Field Trips to…• Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital

• Baptist Health Lexington

• Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital

Educational Curriculum

• Participate in a structured educational

curriculum that includes lectures and labs in

– Algebra

– Anatomy

– Physiology

– Trigonometry

– Chemistry

– Microbiology

Educational Interactive

Sessions• Provide students with hands-on experience,

as well as observe health professionals in a clinical setting

– Interact with various area practicing healthcare professionals

– Healthcare professionals discuss their professions and highlight educational requirements

• Sessions take place in a clinical, classroom and lab setting

Camp Funding

• BGADD staff and consortium members solicit sponsorships and seek out donations to fund the camps resulting in over $20,000 in sponsorships.

• The camp is free of charge to students who are selected.

• Food donations are provided by local restaurants and vendors.

• The camps partnered with Turning Point Technologies to pre and post test students. Turning Point Technologies provides a clicker system where students can get a unique id to answer pre loaded questions each day.

Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Donors Marcum & Wallace Memorial Hospital, Ad-Venture Promotions, Raising Cane’s, Morrison Healthcare Food Services, Cardinal Hill

Rehabilitation Hospital

How the local BGADD staff fit…• Youth Services staff facilitate the

day to day operations of each camp

• Market camps to local school systems

• Check students in and out each day of camp

• Lead students to correct rooms

• Chaperone on fieldtrips and activities

• Coordinate breakfast, lunch, and snacks for students.

• Assist professors in maintaining control of students

• Solicit sponsorships and donations for the camps

• Coordinate speakers and chaperones

MCSI Promotional Video

Contact Information

Chris Turley, BS, MS

Director of Workforce Services

Bluegrass Area Development District

Lexington, KY

cturley@bgadd.org