Hassan Visits Exeter Hospital

EXETER, NH – As part of her efforts to ensure that New Hampshire has a strong health care workforce that can meet the health care needs of Granite Staters, Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, visited Exeter Health Resources (Exeter Hospital, Core Physicians and Rockingham Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice) on July 25, 2016, where she participated in a roundtable discussion to discuss her proposed Gateway to Work initiative and how it can support the health systems’ job training initiatives, including a partnership that Core Physicians has with Great Bay Community College to certify medical assistants.

“Addressing the health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is essential to the health and well-being of our people and our state,” Hassan said. “Through Gateway to Work, we can provide more of the workers the health care industry needs to meet the needs of our citizens, and I continue to urge the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee to approve Gateway to Work when they meet next week so that we can get this important program up and running as soon as possible.”

Submitted by William Hinkle.

“I commend Exeter Health Resources for its leadership in addressing the health care workforce shortage through job-training initiatives and its partnership with Great Bay Community College,” Governor Hassan said. “At the state level, we will continue working to support such efforts and to help ensure a strong health care workforce in order to maintain New Hampshire’s status as a great place to live, work, visit and raise a family.”

“We are pleased that the Governor chose to highlight the work Exeter Health Resources - principally Core Physicians - has been engaged in with Great Bay Community College,” said Chris Callahan, vice president for Human Resources at Exeter Health Resources. “It is a great example of the type of success the Gateway to Work program could bring to the rest of the state. We trained over 30 people last year through this partnership, providing skills in both the technical aspects of Medical Assistant work and soft skills critical to success in the workplace. Gateway is unquestionably an effective way to encourage and support this kind of job training. It’s a win for our health system, the trainees, our patients, the economy and the state.”

In order to address the health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire, Governor Hassan created the Governor’s Commission on Health Care and Community Support Workforce anddeveloped Gateway to Work to help strengthen New Hampshire’s workforce in high-need areas such as health care.

By strengthening job training, creating new partnerships between community colleges and businesses for apprenticeship opportunities, Gateway to Work will help remove the barriers that cause too many citizens to fail in the workplace and help young people in the Granite State get a leg up on their futures. The Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee is expected to consider Gateway to Work at its next meeting, Friday, Aug. 5.