10 Kennedy Parkway
Cortland, NY 13045
Tel: (607) 756-1090
Fax: (607) 756-1092
www.cnyahec.org
A Quarterly On-line Publication of the Central New York Area Health Education Center
Supporting today's health care workforce...
growing tomorrow's
Summer 2009
General Info
- CNYAHEC's Mission
- CNYAHEC's Board of Directors
- CNYAHEC's Service Area Map
- Meet the CNYAHEC Staff
- CNYAHEC Calendar of Events
- Our NYS AHEC Partners
In This Issue
- 2009 Summer Camps Underway
- Tompkins LPN Program Response
- CNYAHEC Grants Wind Down
- Lakeside Congratulates Employees
- InService Solutions Retreat
- AHEC Legislative Breakfast
CNYAHEC is
a partner in the
New York State
Area Health Education Center (NYS AHEC) System.
Attention RNs and LPNs:
Are you interested in taking a
Nurse Refresher Course?
CNYAHEC is in the early stages of planning a 56-hour Nurse Refresher course in Cortland, NY this fall!
If you are interested in attending,
please click here to complete a very brief survey. Only 25 seats are available for this course- don't delay!
For more information, email info@cnyahec.org or call
(607) 756-1090.
Take CNYAHEC's FREE Online Ovarian Cancer Enrichment Course!
Health professions students are invited to learn more about ovarian cancer with the Ovarian Cancer Enrichment Course, available free online for a limited time!
The first 50 health professions students who take the course and its pre- and post-course surveys will receive a totebag/backpack and several other items from CNYAHEC in appreciation for their participation and feedback!
Click here
to access the course!
Attention Area Health Care
Facilities and Staff!
InService Solutions is an on-line inservice education and training program that is an innovative and efficient alternative to on-site trainings. Training modules can be tailored to meet the individual needs and requirements of your staff and facility, and can be completeted at a time convenient for each employee.
InService Solutions is easy to use, and can save you time and money!
Click here to learn how InService Solutions can be the solution to your
in-service training needs!
HELP SUPPORT CNYAHEC!
Every penny counts!
Each time you search the web, GoodSearch will donate approximately one cent to CNYAHEC, enabling us to better serve the health care needs of Central New York communities!
Thank you for your support!
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Log in and check out our page for the latest camps and events, start a discussion... become a fan!
CNYAHEC Health Careers Exploration Camps are underway!
Summertime means camp season at CNYAHEC! 
M.A.S.H. camps are now taking place at 12 hospitals in the CNYAHEC region for area junior high students. M.A.S.H. Camps (Medical Academy of Science and Health) provide kids with hands-on experience working with real health care professionals in real health care settings. M.A.S.H. camps are fun, interactive camps where students can learn about the wide variety of careers available in health care.
In July, high school students experienced a taste of college campus life at HealthQuest at Ithaca College and MedQuest at SUNY Upstate Medical University. These week-long overnight camps are geared for older students and provide a deeper exploration of various careers and fields of study in health care.
Click here for a schedule of CNYAHEC M.A.S.H. camps. The camps are co-sponsored by hospitals, CNYAHEC, and Excellus.
For details on all upcoming events for students, please visit our Calendar of Events.
Overwhelming response for part-time LPN program in Tompkins County
Local health care facilities, community agencies, and academic institutions recently explored the need for a part-time Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) training program in Tompkins County, and received an overwhelmingly positive response.
The collaborative effort was conducted to determine if there was enough local interest in a part-time LPN training program to justify the implementation of such a program in the Tompkins County area.
CNYAHEC partnered with Lakeside Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, 1199 SEIU Training and Employment Fund, Tompkins Workforce New York, Tompkins County Health Planning Council, Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga (TST) BOCES, and the Greater Southern Tier (GST) BOCES in researching this training opportunity.
“Our goal was to determine if there is a need for a local part-time LPN program, and the responses have certainly confirmed there is a need,” said Suzanne Vary, Director of Health Workforce Development at CNYAHEC.
Since November, CNYAHEC has collected responses from over 130 people from various employment and educational backgrounds who have shown interest in participating in a part-time LPN program in Tompkins County. While other LPN programs in the region are typically full-time programs that take about 11 months to complete, the Tompkins County part-time LPN program would be scheduled three nights per week and every other Saturday over an 18-month timeframe. This schedule would allow people to participate in the program while continuing to work full-time at their current jobs.
Over 60 people interested in the part-time LPN program attended informational sessions in May at various locations in Tompkins County. The sessions provided details on financial assistance, how to apply, clinical requirements, and information on CNYAHEC’s health careers exploration website, My Health Career® (www.cnyahec.myhealthcareer.org). In addition, seventeen health professionals took the TEAS (Test of Essential Academic Skills) test, an entrance exam for LPN program admissions.
The average salary in 2007 for LPNs in Central New York ranged from $27,450 to $37,040.
The Central New York Area Health Education System wrapped up its facilitation of services to over eight hundred health care workers in the region as one Berger-related grant came to a close in March. The organization prepared for the end of another grant in June. 
The Displaced Healthcare Workers Program, funded through the New York State Department of Health, concluded on March 31st. It was a mad dash to the finish line for staff and participating facilities including Community General Hospital, Lakeside Nursing Home, United Helpers Nursing Home, Van Duyn Home and Hospital, Willow Point Nursing Home, and Fulton-based A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital, which officially closed in April.
A wide variety of services were provided to health care workers at Central New York BOCES and community colleges despite the difficulties faced amid industry closures, cutbacks, and restructuring. CNYAHEC facilitated a total of 1,357 services to 838 Central New York health care workers through the Displaced Healthcare Workers grant. Those receiving services were primarily lower-skilled workers such as C.N.A.s, and in housekeeping and food service departments. Displaced and incumbent workers were able to upgrade their skills and advance their health career opportunities by participating in various short-term, skills-based trainings, such as Pediatric Life Support and End of Life Care. Other course topics included professional development, leadership, stress management, and C.N.A. training, as well as computer courses in basic internet usage, Word and Excel.
CNYAHEC continues to work with the six Berger Commission Report facilities through funds provided by the New York State Department of Labor. Strategies to Assist Workers Impacted by the Berger Commission Report (SAWIBCR), which ended June 30th, enables health care workers in the region to obtain training and skills assessments through KeyTrain® and WorkKeys®. A total of 88 health care workers are currently in training through this grant.
CNYAHEC-facilitated services funded by the DOH and DOL grants were made possible through regional collaborative efforts with many organizations and facilities, which are committed to ensuring continued quality health care to our communities by helping to prepare today’s health care workers for new models of care and requirements in an ever-changing health care landscape.
CNYAHEC and Lakeside congratulate certificate recipients
Two employees at Lakeside Rehabilitation Center in Ithaca completed training in WorkKeys® and KeyTrain® and received certificates for their achievements on Friday, June 26th.
Connie Runyon, Housekeeping Crew Leader and Certified Nurse Assistant, and David Creswell, Food Service worker, both received ACT's National Career Readiness Certificate and Syracuse University's Certificate of Workplace Competency.
Runyon and Creswell began working toward their certificates in January 2008. Ruynon has been with Lakeside for 22 years, and Creswell joined Lakeside three years ago.
In acquiring their certificates, Runyon and Creswell used KeyTrain®, an online job skills assessment program, to better prepare themselves for the WorkKeys assessments in Reading for Information, Locating Information, and Applied Mathematics.Pictured at right: Lakeside Director of Nursing Doris Kusznir, Connie Runyon, and CNYAHEC Executive Director Leslie Kannus.
KeyTrain® sessions were facilitated by CNYAHEC staff for Lakeside employees and held at Tompkins Workforce New York. The WorkKeys® assessments were administered at Lakeside.
Lakeside had a total of 22 KeyTrain® participants, but only Runyon and Creswell went on to complete the WorkKeys® assessments and earn their certificates.
KeyTrain® and WorkKeys® services were part of CNYAHEC's DOH & DOL grants, during which CNYAHEC staff worked with several partnering agencies throughout the region including Lakeside, SEIU 1199 Training Fund, Tompkins Workforce New York, GST BOCES, TST BOCES, and others.
Pictured at right: Lakeside Director of Nursing Doris Kusznir, David Creswell, and CNYAHEC Executive Director Leslie Kannus.
Through grant funding, CNYAHEC facilitated the enrollment of a total of 289 KeyTrain® and 168 WorkKeys® participants.
InService Solutions Annual Retreat held July 24th
Clients of InService Solutions, CNYAHEC's on-line inservice training program, attended an annual retreat at the Lynn Parks '68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House in Cortland, NY on Friday, July 24.
CNYAHEC hosts the retreat each year to allow facilities using InService Solutions to actively participate in the updating process, and help effectively guide the program's future.
This year's attendees included representatives from CNYAHEC, Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Chemung County Health Center, Iroquois Nursing Home, Lakeside Nursing & Rehabilition Center, Oneida Healthcare Center, and Oswego County Opportunities. Also in attendance was Mike Frasciello, CNYAHEC's technology consultant.
During the retreat, participants worked together to update and ensure the compliance of InService Solutions modules. The group also decided to add a new module entitled "Identity Theft and Red Flags" to achieve compliance for the upcoming FTC regulations, which go into effect in August. Additional information regarding child and elder abuse, and domestic violence will be added to a current module, and a module on ovarian cancer will be added in the coming months.
"This retreat is a way for facilities to take an active role in the updating process, and it also allows us to listen and respond to facilities' needs," states Erica Haray-Butcher, Health Workforce Specialist at CNYAHEC. "InService Solutions is unique in this way because we can take feedback we receive to tailor the program to the needs of our participating facilities."
InService Solutions was designed to meet the in-service training needs of health care facilities of all sizes. InService Solutions was developed by CNYAHEC and an Advisory Group of health care professionals that included in-service educators, directors of nursing, directors of education, nurses, health science educators, and human resource directors.
CNYAHEC has increase its InService Solutions clientele from 6 to 13 since 2007.
There are currently 5,634 InService Solutions user accounts.
For more information about services and programming offered by CNYAHEC, visit www.cnyahec.org or call (607) 756-1090.
Pictured above: InService Solutions client representatives, July 24, 2009.
Spring AHEC Legislative Breakfast held in Albany
This spring, the New York State Area Health Education Center System (NYS AHEC) hosted a breakfast in Albany for New York State legislators to stop by and meet AHEC representatives in region.
The breakfasts, held twice a year, provide opportunities for legislators to meet representatives from their local, regional, and statewide AHEC offices, and learn what’s being done to help with health workforce issues.
Central New York representatives who attended the April 4th breakfast included Assemblymembers Joan Christiansen, Peter Lopez, Thomas O’Mara, and Al Stirpe, and Senator Jim Seward. Staff from Assemblymembers Donna Lupardo’s and David Townsend’s offices also attended.
Pictured at right: CNYAHEC Executive Director Leslie Kannnus with Assemblyman Thomas O'Mara at the legislative breakfast in Albany, April 4, 2009.