Ingram's October 2022

Beyond that, she says, “people are thinking about all of the roles and settings in health care they can choose to serve in. If full-time employment doesn’t work for you, there are part-time options. As well, people can transition between care set- tings—inpatient, ambulatory, peri-opera tive, and others, to provide a change in their work routine, without leaving health care.” Huenergardt says AdventHealth has been compelled to get “really creative to

recruit from new sources—we even had a nurse leader recently travel with other AdventHealth delegates to Puerto Rico to attract some nursing graduates to the Midwest. We also are reaching as far down as high school and middle school to engage young people in the variety of health-care careers available and enco urage them to pursue that path.” At the K-12 level, AdventHealth part ners with the Blue Valley and Shawnee

Mission school districts, as it does with Johnson County Community College and Ottawa University, having acquired that exurban town’s hospital in 2018. “We have worked with the refugee community in Kansas City, Kansas, on workforce opportunities,” Huenergardt said, and “we’ve implemented a number of new benefits in the last couple years— including student loan reimbursement, continuing education, career pathing, and leadership development. We are also foc using more than ever on the physical and mental health of our team members.” REFILLING THE PIPELINE With the sands running out on the demographic hourglass, medical schools are working overtime tomeet the challenge and produce a robust supply of new physicians. Marc Hahn is CEO at Kansas City University, now the largest medical school program in Missouri as measured by graduating class size and the sixth largest nationwide. Part of the strategy to meet the need involves an extended geographical reach. “We’ve been in the northeast neigh borhood of Kansas City’s urban core for 106 years, but in 2017, we opened a second campus in Joplin, which is more rural, and started to focus on rural ac cess. With two classes of graduates now through that channel, KCU is studying other program enhancements. “We looked at what the other chal lenges are there in the area, and one was behavioral health,” Hahn said. “In 2017, in Kansas City, we started a doctoral in clinical psychology to address those needs. Those are so great no one school can even address them as far as behavioral health care. We also studied the Joplin region and made a determination three years ago in studying access to care and oral health care. If you draw a radius around Joplin, 100 miles out into four states, every single county in that radius, every county, has a dental health professional shortage area, and oral health greatly impacts general health.” In response, KCU is starting a dental school in Joplin and is beginning to inter view students for classes there starting next summer. Medical schools, Simari says, have been more than holding their own for

Kathy chose the leader in heart care to save her life.

You Deserve A Leader.

Like Kathy, you don’t plan for a major heart problem. If it happens, you need a cardiologist who cares for the most complex problems, using the most advanced technology and procedures. Choose our dedicated experts to give your heart strength and your mind peace — it’s what you deserve. Learn more at YouDeserveALeader.com

58

I n g r a m ’ s

October 2022

Ingrams.com