Program Will Fill Vital Industry Need and Provide Career Opportunities for Underserved
CTDOL and Yale New Haven Health System officials launch
Patient Care Technician Registered Apprenticeship program
(New Haven, CT) – Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) Interim Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo joined Yale New Haven Hospital President Dr. Keith Churchwell and other Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) officials to launch a new Registered Apprenticeship program that will bring 1,250 Patient Care Technicians into the healthcare field over the next four years. The program is funded by a $10 million federal grant through the CTDOL Office of Apprenticeship Training.
Commissioner Bartolomeo said, “The healthcare sector has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic; this new apprenticeship program represents another step towards training the next generation of workers up the healthcare career ladder. These new apprentices will graduate ready to provide high-quality healthcare for patients and fill critical jobs in the state. I want to thank Connecticut’s Congressional delegation and our partners at the US Department of Labor for their support, and the leadership team at YNHHS for their readiness to provide expert apprenticeship training.”
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded the four-year $10 million State Apprenticeship Expansion, Equity, and Innovation grant to the CTDOL Office of Apprenticeship Training to:
- support new and innovative apprenticeship programs in industries hit hard by the pandemic;
- provide career opportunities to people who lost their jobs or had other major hardships due to the pandemic;
- ensure opportunity for underserved and under-represented populations such as people of color or those who are unemployed.
CTDOL partnered with YNHHS on this grant to build on their success in other healthcare Registered Apprenticeship programs. The system already has nearly 1,000 registered nurse and surgical technician apprentices working throughout Yale New Haven Health System hospitals.
Yale New Haven Hospital President Dr. Keith Churchwell said, “Yale New Haven Health was honored to be selected by the Connecticut Department of Labor as its partner for this grant. The apprenticeship program participants will be full-time employees receiving pay and benefits, both of which are essential in helping them get reestablished following pandemic-related job loss or career transition. This is an important partnership for the hospital and will ultimately increase the availability of high-quality healthcare in Connecticut.”
CTDOL Apprenticeship Director Todd Berch said, “As demand for highly skilled workers increases, Pre-Apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship strategies have proven very successful in meeting both employer and industry need in training, acquiring, and retaining employees. The labor data shows us just how high the need is in the healthcare sector—in Connecticut, we know thousands of jobs are coming online each year at all levels of patient care, and nationally, the healthcare sector is expected to be among the highest growth industries, bringing on 2.6 million workers over the next decade.”
Patient Care Technicians work under nurse or physician supervision and see patients daily for vital signs, blood draws, and other procedures. They support and advocate for patients and assist them and their families while they are in the healthcare setting. YNHHS Patient Care Technician apprentices achieve certification after a year of classroom learning and on-the-job training.
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CTDOL’s Office of Apprenticeship Training is the only U.S. Department of Labor authorized state apprenticeship agency in Connecticut. It combines classroom learning with on-the-job training and produces workers who have both theoretical knowledge as well as experience in their field. There are currently more than 6,700 apprentices registered with nearly 1,700 companies across 50 occupations.
Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS), the largest and most comprehensive healthcare system in Connecticut, includes five hospitals – Bridgeport, Greenwich, Lawrence + Memorial, Westerly and Yale New Haven hospitals, several specialty networks and Northeast Medical Group, a non-profit medical foundation with several hundred community-based and hospital-employed physicians. YNHHS is affiliated with Yale University and Yale Medicine, the clinical practice of the Yale School of Medicine and the largest academic multi-specialty practice in New England. Yale New Haven Hospital is the primary teaching hospital of Yale School of Medicine.