Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, Healthcare Skills Alliance
Location:
Traverse City, Michigan
Primary Industry Sector:
Healthcare
Type of Organization:
WIB
“What really excites me about my sector work is “being witness when leadership has an epiphany and they take concrete action within their own organization or sector and actually create a plan, procedure, guideline or policy that is even better than what you had imagined in your own silo.”
Organizational Mission: The NWMCOG’s mission is to build stronger communities and improve quality of life in Northwest Michigan through collaboration and partnership. The Healthcare Skills Alliance’s goal is to convene healthcare partners to meet workforce needs through recruitment, training and retention strategies, including policy recommendations and shared best practices.
Interest in Sector Work: The Healthcare Regional Skills Alliance (RSA) was funded in 2004 as a convener for partners who recruited, educated, trained or employed healthcare staff. The goal was to improve assessment, training and retention of entry level care workers.
I am an advocate for quality care and have been a catalyst for systems change for my entire career. My sense of justice is a driving force in my work and life. My hope is to increase the respect, recognition and value of work performed, to provide a sustainable wage and health benefits, and to discover what it is that makes the great ones – great. More workers simply increase amount of spending.
The workers that have benefitted are low-income who need contextualized remedial help, disabled, low-skilled workers, dislocated workers, and those transitioning from manufacturing and other non-existent occupations. In northern Michigan, we constantly realign our recruitment, assessment and training practices to meet the needs of both healthcare employers and the learner.
