Occupational therapy helps the injured or the ill move back toward leading independent lives. A collaboration between UAA and Creighton University helps aspiring therapists earn their degrees and launch careers here in Alaska.
To find out more, read the full article here.
Source: UAA occupational therapy: ‘I want to be part of that’ – Green & Gold News
The University of Alaska in partnership with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority hosted a Behavioral Health Workforce Summit on October 25, 2016. Behavioral health providers, experts, and key decision makers came together to share information about the major influences impacting the behavioral health field and provided input that will help inform the University of Alaska’s response to the growing need for qualified behavioral health workers and professionals into the future. A summary and additional information can be found here.
Looking for a career in the health industry? Do you love working with technology? If you answered yes, then becoming an ultrasound technologist might be your match.
The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) ultrasound program takes about two years to complete. According to the Ryan Parnell, Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program Director at UAA, the pay is “excellent.”
Students who graduate could be making around $60,000 a year to start.
To learn watch the Workforce Wednesday segment and learn more, click here.
Source: Workforce Wednesday: Becoming an ultrasound technologist – KTVA 11
Alaska AHEC Wraps Up Busy Summer of Outreach
This summer, the Alaska AHEC completed a series of outreach projects focused on improving the diversity and distribution of healthcare professionals in Alaska. The programs, with a range of target audiences from youth to undergraduates, provided a unique perspective into rural healthcare and career pathways in the field. Thank you to all COH faculty and staff who helped make these projects a success! Here is a brief rundown of the work that kept AHEC staffers busy throughout the summer:
ANSEP Health Science Strand
AHEC led three groups of ANSEP students in health science career exploration this summer, including 53 middle school students and 43 high school students. The theme for these sessions was built around traumatic brain injury. It helped students explore career opportunities by highlighting the role of these professionals in the tumultuous journey of stabilization and recovery from these injuries, along with an underlying public health message regarding injury prevention.
Rural Immersion Institute of the North (RIIN)
The AHEC Program piloted the Rural Immersion Institute of the North in June with 14 undergraduate participants from the Lower 48 and Alaska. Students took part in the 3-week program, which provided them with rural healthcare shadowing, cultural attunement, and Alaskan outdoor recreation. The experience was eye-opening for all involved, and the AHEC looks forward to continuing RIIN in the future. Applications for the 2017 RIIN Program are currently open: bit.ly/2017RIINApplication. For more information, download the RIIN brochure: https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-health/departments/ACRHHW/_documents/RIINBrochure7-26-16.pdf.
Behavioral Health Career Pathways
The AHEC program expanded the 2015 pilot Behavioral Health Camp to include two new locations in summer 2016 (Anchorage and Fairbanks). Forty-four participants took part in the camps which focused on careers in behavioral health, self-care, mindfulness, and Mental Health First Aid certification. Plans are underway to rotate the camps to three new locations in 2017, including Ketchikan, Bethel, and Nome.
Junior Scrubs Academy
The SC AHEC, in partnership with the Municipality of Anchorage, held a Junior Scrubs Academy at Spenard Recreation Center with 24 participants ages 6-12. The academy provided an overview of the following disciplines via hands on and engaging activities and sessions: Medicine, Nursing, Behavioral Health, Veterinary Medicine, and Public Health. SC AHEC is currently planning for more informal “Pop-Up Camps” to take place at both Fairview and Spenard Rec Centers in the future.
For more information, or for potential opportunities to partner with the AHEC program on outreach efforts, please contact Gloria Burnett at gburnett3@alaska.edu or 907-786-6705.
Source: UAA College of Health – August 2016 Leadership Team Newsletter
Department of Education and Early Development – Career and Technical Education awarded four competitive grants in FY17. A brief description of each effort and program contact follows. If you are interested in participating, have questions, or would like more information, please contact the program directly.
Alaska Healthcare Education Consortium
The Alaska AHEC Program will be utilizing the 2017 Postsecondary Perkins grant funds to focus on the Human Services cluster of healthcare through the Behavioral Health Career Pathways Initiative. The AHEC program will be offering introductory career exploration camps for youth via a regional rotation throughout Alaska. The camp piloted in 2015 in Barrow and was expanded in 2016 to include Fairbanks and Anchorage. In summer 2016, the camp will rotate to Nome, Bethel and Ketchikan. The camp, which aims to increase student interest and enrollment in training programs and employment in behavioral healthcare, provides dual credit opportunities, Mental Health First Aid certification and hands on experiential learning in the field of behavioral health. Recruitment for 2017 camps will be slated to start in January 2017. Interested parties can contact Gloria Burnett gburnett3@alaska.edu 907-786-6705 with questions or opportunities for partnership.
AVTEC
The main objective of the AVTEC’s Secondary Training Academy (ASTA) is to provide secondary students and their CTE instructors the ability to earn, or make significant progress towards earning, a credential currently valued and validated by an Alaskan Industry. AVTEC will initially target the Maritime priority workforce area during the first year of the project. AVTEC, and their industry partners, will work directly with participating secondary institutions to update and/or create AVTEC articulation agreements/district career pathways that provide a direct and accelerated pathway into living wage careers with current and anticipated vacancies. AVTEC will fully develop the Alaska Maritime Transportation (AMT) CTE Program of Study (CTEP) during this project. Students whom successfully complete the AMT-CTEP will come out as a fully credentialed mariner whom meets the qualifications of entry level employment in the Alaska Maritime Transportation Industry. Please contact Deb Burdick-Hinton, debra.burdick@avtec.edu, 907-224-6140 for more information about this project and please contact Teri Laird teri.laird@avtec.edu, AVTEC Maritime Department Admissions Coordinator, for specific information about AVTEC’s Maritime Training courses. Detailed information about all of AVTEC’s training programs that lead to a “Career in Less Than A Year” can be found at www.avtec.edu
Prince William Sound College
Prince William Sound College (PWSC) will work in partnership with school districts and industry partners to address a need for students prepared to enter postsecondary Allied Health Career pathways. This will be accomplished via a sustainable distance delivery model that can be adapted to high schools’ unique calendars and courses. PWSC’s program will offer 200 class seats totaling 710 credit hours for secondary students in the Copper Basin, Cordova and Valdez areas over the three year period of the grant and develop a model to continue offering the classes after the grant ends. Classes will include Medical Terminology, Introduction to Composition, [Human] Lifespan Development, First Aid-CPR Professionals, Emergency Trauma Technician, Emergency Med Tech I, and Certified Nurse Aide. Student scholarships will be based on a first come first served basis with priority for NTO (males). Please contact Woody Woodgate at (907) 834-1671 or wawoodgate@alaska.edu for more information.
Hiland Mountain Correctional Center
Hiland Mountain Correctional Center has greatly expanded on vocational programs with the help of the Carl Perkins Nontraditional Occupational (NTO) Training and Employment Grant. The award will be utilized to provide technical educational programs to incarcerated women who will be transitioning into NTO fields. With the help of the grants and partnerships, HMCC is able to offer accredited pre-apprenticeships with the Heavy Equipment Operators Union and with the Iron Workers Union, as well as full apprenticeships in Culinary Arts and Building Maintenance Repairer through the Alaska Vocational and Technical Education Center and the US Department of Labor. In addition, the grant pays for certificate training programs in Carpentry, Electrical and Plumbing through Iḷisaġvik College, as well as several other certifications in Hazwoper, MSHA, OSHA, Biohazard, Flagger, Rigging and Scaffolding. The training provided through the grant has provided training that could lead to direct employment to 65 women so far this fiscal year. For more information, please contact Michael Clark at michael.clark@alaska.gov.
For additional information about the Perkins competitive grant process, contact:
Bjørn Wolter, Ph.D.
Career & Technical Education
Alaska Department of Education & Early Development
907.465.6542
bjorn.wolter@alaska.gov
UA Workforce Development News 