Perhaps now more than ever, health care is a very visible, growing field in need of employees.
You have seen the signs acknowledging health care heroes and likely noticed “We’re hiring!” messages when driving by a hospital or long-term care facilities.
Angela Striegel, Black Hawk College coordinator of career planning/placement, describes the demand for health care employees as “skyrocketing” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even before the pandemic, the expected growth for health care occupations was projected to increase by 15% from 2019-2029, adding about 2.4 million new jobs to the American economy,” she said.
An aging population results in a greater demand for health care services and providers. This means a variety of positions need filled in hospitals, clinics, offices and long-term care facilities to meet patient needs.
Typically, Black Hawk College holds an in-person health care job fair. Due to COVID-19, we launched an In Focus website instead that highlights programs and job opportunities.
Visit www.bhc.edu/healthcarecareers to hear from our faculty and graduates and to learn about Quad-Cities area health care employers. Here is a little glimpse of what faculty had to say about job possibilities in their videos:
[icon name=”comment” class=”fa-button”] “Black Hawk College offers our practical nursing students the education that’s needed to sit for the NCLEX. Once you pass the NCLEX, you may practice nursing in any parts of the United States. You can even be a travel nurse and go from one location to another and practice. The nursing opportunities are unlimited.” –Kathy Dusthimer, Practical Nursing (LPN) program coordinator
[icon name=”comment” class=”fa-button”] “Our CNA students can pretty much get a job before they get out of class if they’d like to. There is a high demand for CNAs all the time. Hospitals, long-term care centers, assisted living, and even home care employs CNAs, and I get many calls every week for people that are looking for CNAs.” –Cheryl Ballantyne, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program coordinator
[icon name=”comment” class=”fa-button”] “The career opportunities right now are huge. Nurses are totally in demand and even more so because of the pandemic. Nurses work in hospitals, clinics, in industry: John Deere has a nurse hired there, correctional facilities, home care, hospice, you name it, there’s probably a nurse there.” –Trudy Starr, nursing department chair and Associate Degree Nursing program administrator
[icon name=”comment” class=”fa-button”] “As we move forward into the future, we know that some jobs will become obsolete and EMS is not one of those jobs. We all need someone to lean on once in a while and being in EMS we’re able to provide that helping hand to many individuals.” –Marci Miner, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program director
[icon name=”comment” class=”fa-button”] “Surgery technology graduates do not have to work only the operating room. There are other places of employment. For example, physicians’ offices, ambulatory surgery centers, maternal health labor and delivery, and even some facilities hire in their heart cath labs.” –Marcie Davis, Surgical Technology program director
[icon name=”comment” class=”fa-button”] “The demand for physical therapist assistants is expected to grow by about 15% within the next five years so there’s definitely a lot of job opportunities available.” –Dianne Abels, Physical Therapist Assistant professor
Black Hawk College offers health sciences career programs and health career training programs for full-time and part-time students. The BHC Career Services Center offers free employment assistance to students as well as community members.