Rush Program Helps Military Vets Gain Health IT Skills
ANN ARBOR, MI, July 23, 2014 – A Rush University Medical Center initiative provides six-month internships for veterans and their family members, offering training and work experience in healthcare information technology.
The EN-Abled Veterans Program is the subject of a new case study released by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based professional association. The case study highlights some of the positive accomplishments of IT and CHIME members’ efforts to better serve their communities.
The program was developed by Jaime Parent, associate CIO and vice president for IT operations at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center. The healthcare organization also hosts the Road Home Program, which provides support, counseling and health services for veterans and their families.
With the grant-supported Road Home Program on the horizon last fall, Parent came up with a specific approach to offer IT training to veterans, which they could parlay into a job. Experience within the hospital setting is valuable for veterans because so many healthcare organizations need IT staff to implement electronic health records and other digital technologies.
More is involved than simply providing training, Parent says. It is estimated that at least 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have post-traumatic stress disorder, and hundreds of thousands have returned from Gulf War battles with traumatic brain injuries. Anticipating these challenges and helping to equip veterans with a range of skills is at the heart of Rush’s EN-Abled Veterans Program.
The program provides vets with training on basic IT tasks that fit current needs at Rush. As they continue in the program, they look for specific areas of IT that interest them for a career. Vets also receive assistance with their resumes and job-acquisition skills, which they typically have not needed in their military careers, Parent said.
“What we offer is an opportunity” says Parent. “We don’t guarantee a job but offer a lot of flexibility and a lot of tools at their disposal. In the last two months of the program, veterans get assistance in improving their resumes and interviewing performance – skills that most veterans have not had to worry about in their lives in the military.”
The specifics of the program are being outlined so that the approach can be used by other healthcare organizations. Parent believes that other healthcare IT executives could adopt the program for use in their organizations, thus multiplying the effect of the Rush initiative and meeting two significant needs at once.
The case study, entitled “Helping Heroes: Training Program Helps Vets Gain Health IT Skills,” can be accessed here.
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 130 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.chimecentral.org.
About Rush
Rush is a not-for-profit enterprise comprising Rush University Medical Center, Rush University, Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush Health. Rush’s mission is to provide the best possible care for its patients. Educating tomorrow’s health care professional, researching new and more advanced treatment options, transforming its facilities and investing in new technologies—all are undertaken with the drive to improve patient care now, and for the future. Rush has more than 6,000 employees and faculty. Visit www.rush.edu, for more information.
Contact
Stephanie Fraser
Director of Communications and Corporate Relations, CHIME
734.665.0000
[email protected]
Updated: 7/23/2014 9:52:49 AM