A Texas not-for-profit organization serving people living with dementia is looking to local youth in the hopes of building a future workforce pipeline.
The James L. West Center for Dementia Care in Fort Worth, TX, provides long-term care and short-term rehabilitation for people living with dementia, an adult day program and community education and support for families, caregivers and professionals.
While brainstorming ways to recruit and retain workers in the aging services field, the West Center began working with local schools to open the eyes of students to potential career paths.
The West Center hosted 10 middle school students over the summer in a career exploration program through the Forth Worth Independent School District’s Vital Link program, which provides a series of cradle-to-career initiatives that allows students to experience a variety of workplaces.
Each day for four days, students learned about different career options from those working at the West Center, including nurses, housekeepers, dietitians and maintenance staff. Those employees shared their education background and offered advice on what they might do differently knowing what they know now.
At the end of the week, students created poster boards to highlight what they enjoyed most about the program, according to Kristie Boiles, vice president of administrative support and human resources, who shared information about the West Center’s outreach programs during a Monday LeadingAge policy update call.
“It was exciting to see them open up over the course of a week, ask questions and get more comfortable with us,” she said.
Community connections
It wasn’t the first school partnership for West Center. The organization partnered with the Fort Worth Independence School District and North Side High School in 2019 on a Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH) clinical partnership and certification program.
Students received dementia education during their freshman and sophomore years, with their junior year devoted to a Dementia Specialist CNA Program. During their senior year this fall, students will take an advanced medical training course and have the opportunity to earn a second healthcare certification before their high school graduation.
A West Center registered nurse educator taught classes on the high school campus to juniors last fall, followed by clinical and hands-on instruction onsite at West Center last spring. The purpose of the program, Boiles said, was to help students see the aging services sector as a potential career opportunity and to provide students with a healthcare certification that could lead to future healthcare careers or full-time work.
The first cohort of 20 juniors graduated from the program this past spring, and five students were hired to work at the West Center over the summer.
“These were some of the hardest-working people in the building,” Boiles said. “They are so kind and so appreciative to have this opportunity to work in this industry. It was a really great experience for the students, our residents and for us.”
Boiles said that many of the students see the program as a stepping stone, with aspirations to go onto other nursing or healthcare-related careers.
The West Center also partnered with Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep, a Catholic college preparatory school, on a work-study program, and connected with other private school students through the National Charity League, a philanthropic organization, to provide volunteer opportunities.
Lessons learned
For other providers considering school partnerships, Boiles recommended contacting guidance counselors, making connections and building relationships to show long-term care’s value to the community. She suggested building an agenda and working with schools to start a program.
Transportation and time were the biggest challenges, and Boiles stressed the importance of being flexible.
“Any time we take away from what we’re normally doing to spend with these students is valuable, but if we don’t take the time then who is going to introduce them to long-term care; who is going to introduce them to nursing care,” she said. “If we don’t cultivate that workforce, somebody else will.”
