Healthcare organizations are helping workers in their communities and across the globe boost their clinical credentials and find new career opportunities, thanks to recent partnerships.
New Orleans-headquartered Ochsner Health is supporting Ukrainian nurses seeking refuge from the war with Russia by providing jobs for them in the U.S. And St. Louis-based Mercy is training Air Force Reserve Command medics so they remain prepared if deployed.
In October, Mercy expanded its existing, single-region Air Force partnership to serve medics living in all regions where it operates. It allows the reservists to clock their required direct patient care and simulation lab hours at 12 Mercy hospitals in three states. Training can last from one to 90 days, depending on individual requirements.
Lt. Col. Ed Hubbell, who oversees the program, has worked at Mercy more than 20 years and has served in the military 37 years. The partnership, for which the system does not receive funding from the Air Force, is about providing hands-on opportunities for reservists, he said.
“They may be teachers, accountants, bus drivers—an array of civilian jobs. But they perform medical skills when they’re deployed. For them, it’s even more imperative that they have the opportunity to receive that training and get that competence level,” said Hubbell, vice president of business partnerships for Mercy Technology Services.
Reservists are not onboarded as Mercy staff members. But Ochsner’s partnership will eventually lead to more employees for the health system.
