HJAR Nov/Dec 2021

50 NOV / DEC 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS RURAL HEALTH COLUMN RURAL HEALTH • Absence of knowledge of various health- care career opportunities. Often, when most youth talk about healthcare ca- reers, they think of a doctor or a nurse and don’t comprehend the many op- portunities that exist within healthcare systems — many that are not clinical, including business office operations, technology, administration, etc. • Inability to afford college expenses. Col- lege is expensive, and being able to af- ford the expenses of studying for sev- eral years seems unattainable to many of our rural youth. • Lack of accessibility. Going away to school is even more expensive, and often, moving away from home is not possible due to obligations at home or simply not wanting to leave family and friends behind. IN a region recognized for high poverty, unemployment and outward migration rates, dozens of job openings sit vacant at healthcare organizations across the south Arkansas Delta. There are few individuals with the proper qualifications or training to fill the slots. Meanwhile, soon-to-graduate high school students and other individuals looking to reenter the workforce are large- ly unaware of the promising training and employment opportunities available only minutes from their doorsteps. With such drastic health workforce short- ages in the region, the only way to provide a real and lasting solution to the problem is to build a locally grown health workforce. Ar- kansas Rural Health Partnership members believe that no one knows or cares more about rural healthcare than those who live and work in rural areas. More and more of ARHP’s efforts are focused on supporting our rural students and new entrants into the workforce through training, education and financial support tomeet our local rural health workforce needs. The support and programs needed to build a local workforce can only be done through teamwork and partnership with our healthcare organiza- tions, schools, funders and workforce or- ganizations. By working in partnership, we can address the rural healthcare workforce issues, sometimes even by simply having open dialogue to understand the challenges of each organization and creating a solution. For these initiatives to be successful, there are several barriers to address: • Deficiency in academic preparation. We must provide opportunities early on that will help students prepare for healthcare studies that require knowl- edge and understanding of math and science and good study habits. “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” —Henry Ford Solutions to Building a RURAL HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE