Nixon visits Three Rivers to discuss job training

Gov. Jay Nixon visited Three Rivers Community College as part of a recent tour seeking to identify ways the state can invest in putting Missourians back to work quickly through vocational and technical training.

"We're not going to cut our way out of the recession, we're going to build our way out," said Nixon during a roundtable discussion with area education and business leaders Friday.

The focus in Poplar Bluff was enhancing Three Rivers nursing and allied health programs. Missouri has a 10 percent nursing shortage, said Kim Shackleford, director of nursing education and division chair of health and human services.

While the community college was able to double its capacity in 2005 through state appropriations, ongoing limitations have since caused more than 700 students to be turned away for immediate enrollment, Shackleford said.

"I have 38 open nursing positions as I sit here now," confirmed Greg Carda, the new CEO of Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. "We hire as many graduates as we can."

Two weeks ago, Three Rivers was awarded $137,000 to partially fund an advanced clinical laboratory through the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development initiative funneled down from the United States Department of Labor.

Since nursing students are required to complete more than 500 clinical hours, Three Rivers is working toward offering that experience on its campus as to relieve the overextended local hospital, which serves as the primary site for providing hands-on training.

With external funding applied in the appropriate places, Three Rivers president Dr. Devin Stephenson said, the community college could increase both its facilities and faculty.

Stephenson noted that Three Rivers' 15-county service area is among the most impoverished in Missouri, with an average annual household income $9,000 lower than the rest of the state. Additionally, he said, the region has among the lowest number of adults with college degrees.

"Seamless education is key," Stephenson told the governor.

Stan Schultz, the CEO of Schultz & Sommers Engineering, shared how he was a student at Three Rivers 23 years ago, attending industrial technology classes. He said 20 of his current 29 employees at his consulting firm have also received instruction there.

More than 30 percent of the city's workforce is in the field of health care, according to Steve Halter, president of the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce.

Poplar Bluff has become the medical hub for the smaller surrounding communities, said Mike Burcham, CEO of Poplar Bluff Medical Partners. Although Three Rivers does a great job in preparing the workforce, he said, improvements need to be made in retaining medical personnel.

One of five nurses leave the profession within the first year, Shackleford said. With the nursing pool shrinking and the aging population of baby boomers, Carda predicted the country is on the verge of a crisis.

"The number of hospital beds needed in the next five years is going to increase dramatically," Burcham added.

Nursing and allied health is the growth area in Missouri and retraining in an information exchange world will be essential, said Larry Rebman, director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. He led the dialogue when Nixon took a conference call, later explaining that he is the person who signs the unemployment checks.

So prerequisites do not hold up the process, higher education officials need to rethink how they tackle retooling displaced workers with "stackables" made more accessible to combine in delivering non-credit certification, said Dr. Wes Payne, Three Rivers vice president for learning.

"Barriers to (health care related programs) are the start-up costs," he stated.

Payne said an advantage to the way Missouri's post-secondary education is structured, as opposed to other states, is rather than duplicating services, the dozen community colleges here can partner with technical schools that have specialized equipment in place.

Community colleges and health care providers should be able to receive incentives for partnering with the various philanthropy groups in the state, according to Burcham. Profit driven organizations should qualify to receive tax incentives based on success achieved through meaningful joint ventures, Payne added.

Nixon concluded that he will use the insight gained to provide the most efficient pathway so resources can go directly into the talent pool when constructing next year's budget with legislators.

Stephenson, who moved to Missouri from Alabama at the beginning of the summer, first met Nixon about a month ago as the governor announced a multimillion dollar job retention program that the community college was selected to facilitate for Noranda outside New Madrid.

"Governors don't go anywhere by accident," Nixon said.

The last time a Missouri governor spoke at Three Rivers was in the early 1990s, when John Ashcroft, who later was appointed U.S. attorney general under the George W. Bush presidential administration, looked to expand the state's job markets, according to the Three Rivers news bureau.