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Forging New Pathways to Rural Education and Employment in Montana
As Montana’s population ages, industry experts estimate that the state’s health care industry will add roughly 1,300 jobs every year until 2024 (1). HealthCARE Montana—a workforce solution established with TAACCCT funding—is helping to recruit and train health care professionals in rural and frontier Montana through a partnership linking 15 of Montana’s two-year colleges (including four tribal colleges), hundreds of health care employers across the state, and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. The program has helped to create apprenticeships for certified nurse aides, pharmacy technicians, medication aides, and assisted living administrators. One of the program’s unique innovations is the first-ever distance-delivered practical nursing program, reaching the furthest parts of the state.
Prior to HealthCARE Montana, the state had never had a successful Registered Apprenticeship program in health care. Since the inception of HealthCARE Montana, the state now has close to 130 Registered Apprentices, in 15 different occupations, with 40 employer sponsors.
“We had a lot of great resources through our TAACCCT [round] four grant, including our dedicated team and other support staff who worked with regards to student support, employer engagement, as well as a lot of the higher education leadership.”
—Valerie Piet, health care program supervisor at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry (2).
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Find and use FREE Open Educational Resources available on SkillsCommons.
Additional Project Information
- Website: HealthCARE Montana
- Webinar: From Design to Implementation, Flexible Apprenticeship Models That Work
- Press: HealthCARE Montana in the News
- Apprenticeship Implementation Toolkit designed by HealthCARE Montana
A day in the life of Megan Hession, Level 5 Health and Social Care Higher Apprentice at HealthCARE Montana
- “Governor Bullock Discusses High-Wage Jobs in Health Care Industry,” Montana Department of Labor & Industry, n.d., http://dli.mt.gov/news/54.
- Workforce GPS. (2017, November 7), “From Design to Implementation: Flexible Apprenticeship Models That Work,” [Webinar]. Retrieved from https://www.workforcegps.org/events/2017/10/17/15/15/From-Design-to-Implementation-Flexible-Apprenticeship-Models-That-Work.