Funding supports health-care workers on the Navajo Nation

Helping health-care workers on the Navajo Nation evolve current jobs into careers is the aim of a new Department of Health Sciences project at NAU.

Jobs to Careers: Work-Based Learning for Quality Care is designed to help rural areas "grow their own health-care providers," said Cruz Begay, an assistant professor in health sciences at NAU.

Supported by a $435,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in collaboration with the Hitachi Foundation, the project will help advance the career development of frontline health-care workers. NAU's project is one of nine selected nationwide through Jobs to Careers.

"The goal of our work-based learning is to provide education for entry-level employees, while they are working, to support them in succeeding with coursework," Begay said. "We want them to stay in their jobs and communities while they advance their career path."

Begay said entry-level health positions are usually filled by Native people on the Navajo Nation, but there is no way for these workers to advance to higher paying, more professional positions unless they leave their job to pursue advanced education.

In order to keep health workers on the reservation and on a career path, the project will teach health technicians basic community health competencies, college study skills as well as the computer skills necessary to be successful in their desired roles.

According to Begay, Pathways Into Health, an organization supported by the Indian Health Service, conceived the project and has been instrumental in getting it underway.

"Mark Veazie, an Indian Health Service epidemiologist, has been a key person in the project," Begay said.

She said NAU hopes to work with supervisors at the Chinle Hospital and Winslow Indian Health Care Center to determine key skills to develop among frontline workers and to identify the types of work experiences that can be used to develop those skills.

"For example, a health facility might need to conduct a patient satisfaction survey and we could involve health technicians in the project to learn about developing surveys and collecting data," Begay explained. "We would teach writing skills using the actual writing of employee reports or memos."

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in collaboration with the Hitachi Foundation, is funding $15.3 million over the next four years to support Jobs to Careers projects nationwide.