MEDIA CONTACT:
Susan Pollard
Asst. Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications
(804) 819-4949
spollard@vccs.edu
Virginia’s Community Colleges Propel 6,400 into Healthcare Careers, thousands more needed.
RICHMOND, Va. (November 29, 2023) – Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Chancellor Dr. David Doré met with healthcare leaders from around the Commonwealth today for the first VCCS Healthcare Summit. The event, the first of its kind for the community college system, addressed the current workforce shortages in healthcare and explored solutions to help students succeed in pursuing healthcare careers and close the skills gap.
Last year, 6,400 students earned healthcare degrees and credentials from Virginia’s Community Colleges. However, the current need for skilled healthcare workers in the Commonwealth is estimated to be eighteen times that number. Narrowing that gap will require VCCS to scale-up programs, expand existing lab space, and hire new instructors, necessary investments that require deeper partnerships, collaboration and conversation between the system and industry.
“This is why we are coming to you today,” Doré told participants in his opening remarks. “We can’t do this alone.”
VCCS convened private and public stakeholders at the summit, one of several planned industry summits, to open new lines of communication about how to strengthen the healthcare workforce through enhanced regional collaboration. Attendees included representatives from the Virginia Healthcare Association, Virginia Center for Assisted Living, Virginia Dental Association, Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and others who discussed strategies on how to best meet the needs of industry while strengthening the value of education for Virginians.
Doré challenged those in attendance to go beyond discussing the challenges facing the healthcare industry and collaborate on three specific action steps that each of the nine GO Virginia regions can pursue, with VCCS support, to enact workforce change.
The network of Virginia’s Community Colleges is the only provider of workforce and education solutions with true statewide scope, uniquely attuned to both the broad needs of the Commonwealth and the nuanced needs of its communities. As a result, VCCS is leading the charge in growing Virginia’s healthcare sector.
Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. John Littel
Secretary of Health and Human Resources John Littel said the shortage of skilled healthcare professionals poses a significant challenge to the state’s healthcare system, impacting its ability to deliver quality care and meet the growing needs of Virginia communities.
“Virginia needs the combined strength of our community college and industry leaders, collaborating in ways we have yet to explore if we want to have the impact I know we can have,” Littel said.
Sheryl Garland, chief of Health Impact at VCU Health System, said finding solutions to the complex workforce problems Virginia faces today will require an unprecedented level of teamwork.
“Sharing information is essential for our success,” Garland said. “Having access to a broad spectrum of data will help all of us more precisely understand the dynamics of the healthcare workforce, and in the process, develop solutions that are tailored to the needs of our industry in Virginia.”
Additional industry sector summits will be held across the Commonwealth in the coming months to strengthen partnerships between Virginia’s Community Colleges and industry leaders to solve the Commonwealth’s workforce challenges.
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About Virginia’s Community Colleges
Since 1966, Virginia’s Community Colleges have given everyone the opportunity to learn and develop the right skills, so lives and communities are strengthened. By making higher education and workforce training available in every part of Virginia, we elevate all of Virginia. In 2022, Virginia’s Community Colleges served approximately 230,000 students across 23 schools. For more information, please visit www.vccs.edu.
