Budget Negotiators Urged to Spare Workforce Development Programs
This Op-ed appeared in the Daily Times and can be found at http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2009/07/27/opinion/doc4a6d1a3373f05570379239.txt
Eugene Zegar is the Vice President of Human Resources at Crozer-Keystone Health System
To the Times:
In a guest column published in the Delaware County Daily Times two years ago, I voiced my support for Pennsylvania’s workforce development programs, at a time when their funding was threatened to be drastically cut from the 2007-08 budget.
Thanks to our legislators, that funding remained largely intact, and the Industry Partnerships and incumbent worker training it supported continued to progress to serve businesses like ours, ultimately helping Pennsylvania remain competitive in today’s global marketplace.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s workforce development programs are once again in jeopardy in the 2009-10 budget. Recent proposals in the state Senate have zeroed out funding for Industry Partnerships and incumbent worker training, and I find myself again urging our legislators to support these programs.
These cuts threaten to dismantle a workforce system in Delaware County that has produced real results for its workers, its businesses and the economy.
And while I acknowledge that this year presents some of the most challenging budget decisions our legislators have had to make in decades, I propose that if we can’t avoid cuts, we need to prioritize and determine which programs are most critical.
I continue to believe workforce development funding should be one of those priorities.
Pennsylvania’s workforce development system takes an industry-led, demand-driven approach, connecting training and education programs to the critical needs of industry.
At Crozer-Keystone Health System, we have benefited from these connections through Industry Partnerships in order to develop intensive training to meet the ever-increasing need for emergency room and critical care nurses.
Through an Industry Partnership training grant, Crozer-Keystone Health System was able to train 20 nurses already on staff to become much-needed emergency room nurses.
Because the grant enabled us to design our own intensive, comprehensive curriculum, these nurses raised their skill-level in six months to a point that would normally take years to obtain. Today, 19 of the participants are still emergency room nurses, and the remaining participant moved to critical care.
Building on the success of the first training, a second grant from the Life Science Career Alliance is enabling us to train approximately 90 additional emergency room and critical care nurses.
Nearly 60 companies from Delaware County count on this money to support training efforts and enable employees to obtain higher skills.
In the end, these funds help us run our businesses more efficiently and better prepare for the future.
I can personally attest to the fact that these partnerships work.
Industry Partnerships help position the commonwealth as a competitive leader in the global marketplace. I urge our legislators to help us remain competitive and maintain funding for Pennsylvania’s industry partnerships and incumbent worker training.
EUGENE ZEGAR
Vice President of Human Resources
Crozer-Keystone Health System