Local and state health care and education officials, along with members of the Federal Reserve, met Thursday at HealthForce Kentucky in Owensboro to discuss how to train and retain rural health care workers and the importance of the health care industry to rural economies.
The session brought together people in the health care and education professions, along with government officials, to discuss ways to grow the health care workforce in rural communities through training opportunities and educational initiatives such as HealthForce Kentucky.
According to 2025 data from the Kentucky Hospital Association, the state had a shortage of 2,821 registered nurses last year, and the deficit was expected to worsen over time. By 2030, 18% of operating room nurses and 25% of psychiatric nurses are expected to have retired from the profession.
Bruce Williams, president and CEO of HealthForce Kentucky, said the health care worker shortage was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, when workers in various health professions retired or quit because of burnout. The idea behind HealthForce Kentucky, which has a classroom facility on Frederica Street and two mobile classrooms, is to interest students in health care careers while also supporting schools through science education.
The mobile units, Williams said, expose students “to careers they may not know existed” in health care.
John J.P. Hamm, assistant vice president for workforce development for the Kentucky Hospital Association, said there are benefits when health care facilities can hire medical professionals from their own communities.
“Hospitals do want to hire locally, to the extent that they can,” Hamm said. In Eastern Kentucky, for example, a hospital began a nursing education program for local residents because those graduates already know the community and will be familiar to patients, Hamm said.
“That hospital … they wanted the nurses to be from there to speak eastern Kentucky, to speak like the patients do,” Hamm said.
If a rural hospital loses a specialist, it loses the ability to provide a service, which can force local residents to drive to another region for treatment, Hamm said.
When asked how the health care industry connects to local economies, Williams said health care workers spend money in their communities. In terms of job security, health care is “a disaster-proof profession,” he said.
Hospitals generate $34 billion in economic activity annually, Hamm said. By comparison, the state’s two signature industries, horses and bourbon, generate a combined $17 billion.
There are 95,000 direct health care jobs in the state and an additional 76,000 support jobs, Hamm said.
Scott Williams, president of Owensboro Community & Technical College and chairman of the HealthForce Kentucky board, said health care training programs are successful when the necessary components are in place. A program needs health care facilities hiring workers, experienced trainers, and the resources and funding to provide the training.
For HealthForce Kentucky, the initial investment came from the Kentucky General Assembly, which provided $38 million. The organization also includes numerous colleges and universities and regional hospitals.
“The training is not free,” Scott Williams said.
Leslie Sizemore, vice president for workforce and economic development for the Council on Postsecondary Education, said health care training programs have to truly represent their local communities.
“We’ve got to quit waiting for someone to save us,” Sizemore said, and added, “we need to do the work ourselves and make our (communities) the places people want to stay.”
Sizemore said a goal is to reach people who might not be interested in pursuing the traditional college path to health care careers. Some examples include a program for military veterans with medic training to help them become registered nurses, or helping people with experience in addiction become peer support counselors and social workers, Sizemore said.
There are many health care professions seeking workers, Bruce Williams said. Only about 45% of hospital jobs involve direct patient care.
“Most people think of healthcare being doctors and nurses,” he said. But when students are exposed to other health careers through HealthForce Kentucky, officials see “light bulbs come on,” Bruce Williams said.
By James Mayse Messenger-Inquirer