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Who we are
What does the Health Workforce Collaborative aim to achieve?
The mission of the Health Workforce Collaborative is to continuously employ innovative methods and tools designed to convene and engage community stakeholders in collaborative efforts that efficiently develop and support the healthcare workforce in New York State.
Providing measurable benefits to:
- Healthcare employers recruiting, training, and retaining a quality health workforce
- Workforce development organizations growing and supporting the health workforce
- The health workforce advancing and developing their careers
- Communities in need of adequate numbers of well-trained healthcare workers
What is the current health workforce situation?
The health workforce is facing record shortages in many geographic areas and professions. There simply aren’t enough practitioners and staff to adequately meet the needs of the population. This strain on the current workforce and the health system as a whole is only amplified in light of a global pandemic.
The five primary external forces guiding the strategic approach of the Health Workforce Collaborative are:
Infrastructure
There is currently no comprehensive, effective, sustainable, community-driven healthcare workforce development infrastructure in New York State.
Coordination
There is very little coordination or collaboration of existing healthcare workforce development agencies and initiatives at the regional or State level.
Pathways
The essential pathways that connect secondary education, post-secondary education, clinical training, clinical placement, healthcare employment and continuing education are minimal in number, difficult to identify, and exceedingly challenging to navigate.
Funding
New York State has recently cut funding and/or completely defunded key healthcare workforce development programs/agencies.
Shortage
Healthcare employers throughout the state are already challenged with a workforce shortage.
The Collaborative addresses each of these forces independently and systemically by deploying a flexible, agile, and sustainable community-based platform designed to analyze, engage, guide, and manage the volatile supply and demand dynamics of New York State’s healthcare workforce at a local and State level.
Our approach to health workforce challenges
Connecting and engaging through innovative solutions
The approach and methods created and deployed by the Health Workforce Collaborative center around an online digital platform, The Health Workforce Hub, and one of its key components, the Marketplace.
The Health Workforce Hub is a free online platform that provides visitors with a wide array of health workforce information, resources, and opportunities.
The Marketplace is a space within the Health Workforce Hub in which health workforce agencies may subscribe to post their programs, products, services and/or other related offerings.
All forms of healthcare employers may access the Marketplace to easily filter, identify, and engage directly those programs, products, and services that best match their workforce needs.
Once fully developed and deployed, subscriptions and sponsorships will ensure sustainability of the Health Workforce Collaborative in perpetuity.
The foundation of the Health Workforce Collaborative is based on the values of democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of its founders, the Collaborative upholds the ethical values of honesty, transparency, social responsibility and caring for others.
Erika Flint
Board President
Leadership
Meet Our Board of Directors
Melanie Rhodes
Executive Director, Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center
Board President
Katie Stair
Director of Nonprofit Services, Capital CFO
Board Vice President
Dr. Robert Martinano
Senior Program Manager, Center for Health Workforce Studies
Board Treasurer
Colleen Casali
Economic Self-Sufficiency Director at Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc.
Board Secretary
Michelle Emmons-Belnavis
Vice President of Human Resources at Services for the Underserved (S:US)
Ashleigh McGowan
VP of Innovation & Design, Health Workforce New York (HWNY)
Richard Merchant
CEO, Health Workforce New York (HWNY)
Erika Flint
Executive Director, Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization
Sara Wall Bollinger
Executive Director, SWB Consulting Services
Kelly Owens
Executive Director, Hudson Mohawk AHEC
Alice Savino
Executive Director, Workforce Development Board
Funders & Partners
The Health Workforce Collaborative is supported by funding from the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York, Cloudsplitter Foundation, Community Foundation for Herkimer & Oneida, and United Way of Northern New York.
The following organizations have helped pioneer the Health Workforce Collaborative with expertise, resources, and start-up funds.
