Educators and health care officials gather for a discussion on the demand for qualified nurses Friday at Peninsula College in Port Angeles. Included in the presentation were, from left, Caitlin Harrison, chief human resources officer for Jefferson Healthcare; state Rep. Steve Tharinger; Sharon Buck, college vice president of instruction; college president Luke Robins; Eric Lewis, CEO of Olympic Medical Center; and Mia Boster, collage dean of instructional services. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

Educators and health care officials gather for a discussion on the demand for qualified nurses Friday at Peninsula College in Port Angeles. Included in the presentation were, from left, Caitlin Harrison, chief human resources officer for Jefferson Healthcare; state Rep. Steve Tharinger; Sharon Buck, college vice president of instruction; college president Luke Robins; Eric Lewis, CEO of Olympic Medical Center; and Mia Boster, collage dean of instructional services. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

One-of-a kind collaboration expected to train health care workers on Peninsula

PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College is teaming up with health care providers from Clallam and Jefferson counties in a wide-ranging $1 million effort funded by state lawmakers, the college foundation, local hospitals and others.

The goal: Add registered nurses, medical assistants and certified nursing assistants to a rural medical industry workforce on the North Olympic Peninsula that is typically starving for job applicants.

“To recruit doctors is challenging,” Olympic Medical Center CEO Eric Lewis said Friday.

He commented in a group interview in which college, OMC and Jefferson Healthcare officials and 24th District state Rep. Steve Tharinger of Sequim discussed the initiative.

“To recruit medical assistants and RNs, the workforce is not there, so it has to be trained,” Lewis said.

“We have to create it.”

Interview participants hope the public-private collaboration wll prove successful as a pilot project.

Tharinger said the partnership between the state Legislature and the North Olympic Peninsula funders to expand workforce education is one-of-a-kind.

“It’s not happening anywhere else in the state,” Tharinger said.

“What’s unique is having local partners share the cost.”

Details of local funding are still being worked out, participants said.

The additional funding for health-provider training so far is fueled primarily by a $437,000 allocation for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years, approved by state lawmakers March 8 in the supplemental operating budget, that consists of $87,000 for 2018-19 and $350,000 for 2019-20.

The effort also is being bolstered by annual allotments, for four years, of $60,000 from OMC and $40,000 from Jefferson Healthcare.

Bill and Esther Littlejohn of Sequim have donated $50,000 for the 2018-19 school year, and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is allotting $10,000 annually for three years.

The Peninsula College Foundation is helping students with $45,000 in scholarships for newly enrolled medical assistant students for fall 2018 and $51,150 in scholarships for new and returning students in all Allied Health instructional areas for the 2018-19 academic year.

As part of the students’ training, on-the-job, clinical-placement experience will be provided by OMC, Jefferson Healthcare, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and Forks Community Hospital.

Clinical placement also will be provided by Crestwood Health and Rehabilitation Center and Peninsula Behavioral Health in Port Angeles and Dungeness Courte Memory Care in Sequim.

Under the program, the annual number of slots available for students pursuing a two-year registered-nurse degree, achieved under Peninsula College’s Allied Health Program, will increase by 33 percent beginning in September, from 24 to 32, college President Luke Robins said Friday.

Fifty-seven students applied for entry into the college’s RN academic program for September and only 24 slots were available, according to college records.

“We need to try to do more in terms of increasing capacity,” Robins said.

“We need to ramp up the program on the front end.”

Students mostly from Clallam and Jefferson counties attend Peninsula College, college officials said.

Annual medical-assistant student enrollment will double from 20 to 40 beginning in September for that 15-month program, while certified nursing assistant enrollment will increase from 40 to 80 students for the three months of training required for certification.

Two nursing instructors and a medical-assistant instructor will be hired to teach the additional students through the 2019-2020 school year under funding approved by the state Legislature March 8, Robins and representatives from Olympic Medical Center and Jefferson Healthcare hospital said.

Full hiring calls for eight new employees, including three new instructors and two lab technicians, according to the state Department of Health.

All but $54,000 of the $450,000 annual cost will consist of salaries and benefits, with 1.25 FTE for a nursing instructor penciled in for $90,000 and a full-time medical-assistant instructor costing $60,000, according to DOH.

Tharinger said he was “pretty confident” that the state Legislature will continue funding the program beyond two years.

Robins said additional revenue also will be generated by added tuition.

“We’ll continue to invite partners to help out as we move forward,” he said in an text message late Friday.

The state Department of Health has designated Clallam and Jefferson counties as “medically under-served areas” based on infant mortality, poverty rate, percentage of elderly and the ratio of primary care physicians to the population, according to the agency’s’s eight-page report on the workforce initiative.

The counties also are in the highest category for professional shortage areas and have populations in which 21 percent-26 percent of residents are 65 and older, according to the agency.

Interview participants waxed enthusiastic about the program in a meeting room at the college’s new 47,000-square-foot, $25.6 million Allied Health and Early Childhood Education Building, which had its grand opening May 21 and will house the additional students and teachers.

Attendees included Caitlin Harrison, Jefferson Healthcare chief human resources officer; Sharon Buck, Peninsula College vice president for instruction; and Mia Bowser, Peninsula College dean for professional, technical education and e-learning.

The 24th District covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and the northern half of Grays Harbor County.

“That’s one of the reasons I was able to get these dollars, because we have this partnership,” said Tharinger, who is running for re-election in November.

He serves as chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee and is on the House Health Care and Wellness Committee and Appropriations Committee.

“It’s not just the state putting in all the money,” he said.

Harrison and Lewis said the need for the health care workers who will be trained by the program could not be clearer.

The hospitals are never fully staffed, they said.

OMC has 25-30 openings for registered nurses, a number that remains constant.

That forces OMC to hire “travellers,” or registered nurses from out of town whose expenses the hospital must cover.

“We just have an ongoing need,” Lewis said.

“Our unions who represent our RNs were very enthusiastic about this,” he added.

“They were in my office supporting it,” Tharinger said.

________

Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Weekly flight operations scheduled

There will be field carrier landing practice operations for aircraft… Continue reading

Navy training exercise to be conducted Thursday

Naval Magazine Indian Island will conduct a security training… Continue reading

North Olympic Library System public service specialist Jessica Raivo transfers books from the stacks to a cart on Saturday at the Sequim Public Library for eventual transport to a temporary library building. The current library on North Sequim Avenue is slated for renovation and expansion with library services slated to resume on April 1 at 609 W. Washington St., next to Fifth Avenue Furniture, in the storefront that was previously Brian’s Sporting Goods. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Book transfer

North Olympic Library System public service specialist Jessica Raivo transfers books from… Continue reading

Jefferson County is eying short-term rental regulations

Feedback to be presented to Planning Commission

Clallam PUD seeking faster solution for West End outages

County commissioners, coalition support idea of expanded right of way

From left to right, Sean Coleman, Colleen Robinson, Brown Maloney and Todd Ortloff display the awards they earned Friday during the annual gala of the Clallam County Economic Development Council at Field Arts & Events Hall in Port Angeles (Lorie Fazio/Clallam County EDC)
Coleman named Olympic Leader of the Year at EDC gala

Habitat for Humanity, Radio Pacific also win awards during event

Historic bell missing from Camp Parsons

Property crime up in Brinnon area, director says

Casey and Karen Proud, both of Sequim, look at a selection of St. Patrick’s Day hats and other souvenirs for participating in Saturday’s Shamrock Shuffle & Pub Crawl in downtown Port Angeles. The event, a benefit for the Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Education Foundation, allowed crawlers to receive six tasting tokens for libations at participating bars and restaurants in the downtown area with a drawing for additional prizes. Numerous downtown businesses also offered sale discounts for purchases during the crawl. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Winter sports benefit in Port Angeles

Casey and Karen Proud, both of Sequim, look at a selection of… Continue reading

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, right, discusses emergency services on Thursday during a roundtable session with emergency managers from across the region, including Clallam County Sheriff Brian King, left, and Clallam County Administrator Todd Mielke in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Clallam seeks additional funds for emergency operations center

Administrator says $10 million still needed for proposed project

More than 100 educators appeared at Thursday’s Port Angeles School District board meeting to show their support for paraeducators, who are seeking a 3.7 percent pay raise and have been working without a contract since Aug. 31. (Paula Hunt/Peninsula Daily News)
Paraeducators fill school board meeting

Labor group asking for same raise teachers received

Committee forms to support Quilcene school levy

Lack of communication cited for failed vote

Herb Beck Marina improvements in the works

New concrete boat launch among the plans