PLATTSBURGH — A new online initiative is aiming to address the critical shortage of health care professionals in Northern New York.
Dubbed “The Institute for Career and Advancement in Medicine” or “ICAM,” the groundbreaking platform officially launched Monday here and will now provide a free, seamless pathway for individuals to pursue and advance health care careers.
To celebrate the launch, local and state stakeholders held a news conference at the University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Monday morning.
Richard Merchant, CEO of Health Workforce New York, which helps organizations “overcome recruitment, training, and retention challenges with innovative workforce development solutions,” said ICAM is not a program, but rather a digital infrastructure design that promotes, leverages and coordinates existing programs together.
“This is … a unique, innovative infrastructure that has not existed in New York state or anywhere for that fact,” Merchant said to a packed room at CVPH.
“It’s bringing all of those stakeholders together under one roof to be able to supercharge each and every single one of those training programs, incentive programs, employment programs in our region.”
The North Country, along with many other rural communities nationwide, is and has been struggling to retain and attract health care professionals for some time.
ICAM could now be the solution to a health care shortage that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Rural communities, more than ever, not just in our region but across the U.S., need to bolster and to bring young people into the field,” CVPH president Michelle LeBeau said.
“I’m excited for what we’re doing. I’m excited to share a new lens.”
SHORTAGE IN FIELD
ICAM will look to address the critical shortage of qualified healthcare professionals by creating a sustainable pipeline of talent and providing “free access to health workforce career assessment, development and advancement tools, and a platform for connecting healthcare employers, educators, and workforce developers with each other and with new prospects.”
“This is what has been lacking that we now have access to … this is truly about community development,” Merchant said.
Local colleges stand to benefit from ICAM as well, because it aligns with their existing preparation efforts to ready generations of students for health care careers.
“I think — all of us in this room and outside of this room — we share the enduring desire for all of our families to have access to good quality health care, and one of the greatest threats to that is the healthcare workforce,” North Country Community College President Joseph Keegan said.
“And what this promises to do is to make sure that that health care is there by ensuring that there’s a health care workforce to be had.”
THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
Steve Frederick, Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Clinton Community College, lauded Merchant for his commitment to seeing ICAM come to fruition.
“I actually refer to this as the yellow brick road,” Frederick said.
“Where do you start? You start at that first brick on the yellow brick road. What Richard and his team have actually built is the yellow brick road, and it will take you as far as you want to go in a career in health care.”
Local officials say the North Country region is the ideal location for an innovative platform such as ICAM.
President of the North Country Chamber of Commerce, Garry Douglas, said there’s no other region that has, over the last 25 years, done a better job of formulating regional vision and regional collaboration and partnership.
“…All of the service providers, health care providers, are going to be utilizing it, the schools, the trainers, the education programs,” Douglas said.
“I know that’s why this region was chosen first, because it was most naturally open, not only to do it, but then make it a success.”
Michele Friedman, Director of Career and Technical Education at CV-Tech, said it’s their responsibility to provide a regional hub for students in the North Country to explore what’s next, and ICAM will help do that.
“We want to make sure that the students of the North Country have the tools they need to make an informed decision about what’s next, and not necessarily what’s currently in place,” she said.
“With AI and all of the advances in medicine, we need to make sure that we’re inspiring students for jobs that we don’t even know about yet.”
STUDENT SPEAKS
Olivia Burgin, a sophomore at Beekmantown High School, is an example of that student eagerness to utilize ICAM. She said her principal sent an email out to students about the platform ahead of its launch and Burgin knew she had to take advantage of the opportunity.
“I didn’t really think anything would come of it, but it did,” Burgin told the media after Monday’s news conference.
“Now, I’m lined up for a lot of potential internship opportunities … that I’m interested in, so I’m really excited.”
Burgin says she is interested in learning about a few different specialties so far through the platform, particularly neuroscience.
Her interest in the neuroscience field is especially personal. Burgin said her father was in an accident a few years ago that left him a paraplegic from the chest down after suffering a spinal cord injury.
“Even before the accident happened, I’ve always had a really big passion for neuroscience, and I’ve always really loved the brain and all the possibilities that come with it, and the research that we really just haven’t gotten to really see yet,” she said.
“Now, being older and after having that (experience), it’s really just made me want to be able to make a difference, and also just have patients being able to have their health care opportunities and to make sure that they’re always being able to be advocated for.”
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