Employment Options program promotes self-sufficiency

Marlborough - Four participants from Employment Options Inc.'s new HealthCare Works program received awards May 12 at Quinsigamond Community College for essays and poems they authored that were included in a publication for students. Those tangible awards join the less quantifiable successes - like increased self-esteem - that many HealthCare Works participants are said to be experiencing. The program was set up last year to promote economic self-sufficiency for low-income individuals in greater MetroWest, and marks an expansion of services by Employment Options—an agency whose support programs were once strictly for people with mental illness.

HealthCare Works, according to the program's director, Shannon Hall, is a workforce development program that operates as a cooperative effort between the Metro South/West Regional Employment Board, Employment Options, and area health care providers to avail training and job placement services in the healthcare industry for low-income individuals. State funded grants were awarded to support the program, with Employment Options providing case management services to participants.

Employment Options helps participants navigate such obstacles as transportation and childcare needs so they can carry out their training and employment goals. Options has established a collaboration with Quinsigamond Community College to help increase accessibility for participants by having classes offered onsite at the Marlborough based Options facility. Depending upon their needs, some participants begin with adult basic education or English as a Second Language classes, and then move into more technical courses needed for securing higher level healthcare jobs. Onsite childcare arrangements have been made available.

According to Options executive director Toni Wolfe, many of the program participants are struggling to survive present hardships in making economic ends meet for their basic needs. Trying to make long-term plans for education and subsequent job placement in the midst of dealing with short-term problems can be difficult for people, she said. Options, she added, helps people think through those choices and decisions.

Hall has seen first hand the challenges participants face.

"The participants that I have worked with," she said, "struggle with planning their day-to-day schedules; they have enormously busy lives as they have children, jobs, and they attend classes in the evening. The majority of the group is comprised of the working poor and works very hard to pay their household and family expenses."

Options, Hall said, asks participants to identify long-term career goals that focus around school and ultimately obtaining a certificate or degree that can help them increase their earnings.

"But in the meantime," added Hall, "they still are thinking 'my car insurance, rent, electric bill, etc. is due tomorrow.'"

The HealthCare Works program is set up, Hall said, to assist with the day-to-day planning as well as creating long-term goals—all the while helping them to break down the barriers that make their goals of becoming self-sufficient less overwhelming.

Adding HealthCare Works to Options programming was a natural extension of the agency's services, said Wolfe. Having dealt with poverty issues and issues related to employment barriers for over 25 years, the agency decided to enlarge their service population to include low-income individuals without mental illness. She said she hopes the new program will not only help to open doors for new participants, but will also serve as an additional opportunity for members who were already connected to Options and are ready to pursue a new employment avenue.

The healthcare industry was selected as the occupational focus for this program, Wolfe said, because there is a sustainable need for healthcare workers regardless of economic times. The program not only provides marketable skills for participants, but also helps avail an increased pool of trained employees for an industry that continually has a shortage of workers.
Hall said Options is hoping more health care facilities will partner with them in employing the program's job-ready participants. Directors of facilities interested in collaborating with Options are encouraged to contact Hall. Besides increasing partnerships, Hall said the program is also seeking volunteers to serve as mentors, tutors and babysitters.

HealthCare Works has open enrollment. For more information about the program, to discuss job openings at a healthcare facility, or to volunteer, contact Hall at (508) 485-5051.

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