Connie Hines at CareerForce in Fairmont shared how her team worked together with Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC) and Lakeview Methodist Health Care Services to help local elder care residents get the care they need while helping local young people home from college get the work experience they need.

"We received a call from Lakeview Methodist Health Care Services in Fairmont and they stated they had a dire need for workers due to the pandemic," said Connie. "It was already difficult to find employees due to a shortage of available applicants in that occupational area and the pandemic made matters even worse."

 Connie and DEED staff at CareerForce discussed solutions with local workforce development partner, MVAC. They realized there were many college students home now either on holiday break or because they were temporarily not on campus and that these students might be able to help out at the Lakeview Methodist Health Care Services campus, which includes apartments, assisted living and a nursing home.

"We were acquainted with many college students because of our Martin County Internship Program. We used the contacts from that program and began contacting students," said Connie ."Students responded and in cases were able to use this work for their medical internships that had been planned for the summer of 2020."

CareerForce, MVAC and Lakeview collaborated with the medical internship students and offered them positions at Lakeview to assist both the nursing home in their needs and the college students in wanting medical experience. Lakeview was given allowance to a shortened training session for workers to facilitate bringing the college students onboard quickly.

Many elder care positions are open in communities throughout Minnesota. You can see the top 30 Jobs in Demand now in Minnesota and learn more about Personal Care Aides and other positions in high demand in elder care now. Many positions provide on-the-job training.