BERLIN — Like most states, Vermont is facing a shortage of professionals in medical fields. Nurses are in short supply.
But Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin has established a program for members of their medical staff to grow their careers as both Licensed Professional Nurses and Registered Nurses through an innovative work-study program.
Nationally, a shortage of LPNs and RNs is a concern for health care organizations. Vermont needs nurses. With this concern affecting the health care field here in 2017, CVMC began developing a series of nursing career pathway programs for its nursing staff in partnership with Community College of Vermont and Vermont Technical College.
These programs allow full-time employees to earn while they learn. Students continue to work at the hospital while receiving academic instruction at a local college and acquiring practical skills on site.
For Madison Crown and Jesse Wild, two 20-year-olds enrolled in the RN and LPN programs, the work-study programs are meeting both their current educational and financial needs, as well as providing their future professional advancement goals.
Crown, an RN student from Montpelier, works at Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing as an LPN with two years in the field.
“I value having a job and going to school,” she said. “The program offers an opportunity to work and further my education.”
Working two days a week and in school two days, within five years her commitment to the hospital — three years for her LPN training and two for her RN — she’ll have her license and be debt free.
“I’ll be 25 when I can leave the hospital if I want. I’ll have my RN degree before I turn 21,” she said.
For Wild, studying to be an LPN, the financial incentives are important.
“To come out of the whole learning experience after three years without any debt is incredible,” he said.
Wild, from Orange and a U-32 graduate, found work in the medical field enticing when he joined a job shadow program at CVMC.
“I joined their LNA program and got my license April 2021,” Wild said, adding that he is excited about his future.
“The versatility of the medical field attracted me, you can do almost anything you want to. There will always be jobs available and I can make a difference,” he said. He plans to become an RN after completing his current training.
Megan Foster, the workforce development coordinator for human resources at CVMC, explained how the program works.
The programs were launched in 2019. The LPN license began that year and has grown in number of students.
“They graduate and commit to CVMC and a certain amount amount of their loans or out-of-pocket expenses are paid out over the course of an identified number of years,” she said.
Each program has a specified number of years the student must commit to working at the hospital. For LPNs there is a three-year commitment; for RNs its two years.
Currently, the LPN Pathway Program has 10 students enrolled. Six are enrolled in the RN program.
The Licensed Nursing Assistant training program has five students. A new Medical Assistant training program that is starting this month has six students enrolled.
According to Foster, “Both programs are part of the hospital’s strategic efforts to invest in its people; grow its workforce from within; and help remove common barriers individuals may face when balancing life, work and continuing their education.”
Students, all of whom work at CVMC in some capacity, are eligible for the pathways program.
According to Foster, “Some students are in entry level positions and want to expand. Some are looking for a nursing career from non-medical positions.”
“CVMC is trying to show you can start in environmental services, and nutrition food services, for example, and move to a higher level position through this program,” she said.
The impetus for making the program attractive to CVMC staff is by allowing employees to continue receiving full-time pay and benefits while working part-time hours, said Foster. “The program opens up a block of time during the work week for study. In the first year, employees take prerequisite courses at CCV, paid for by the hospital.”
CVMC is ahead of the curve in terms of creative ways to grow its medical staff.
“I’m seeing this becoming more common while it’s still relatively new,” said Foster. “This model of going to school while still working its an innovative model that appears to be working. There is a lot interest from individuals who want to go to school but need to work.”
