HealthForce Kentucky partners with Brescia, Kentucky Wesleyan on new programs

HealthForce Kentucky, the regional healthcare professions training initiative, has partnered with Brescia University and Kentucky Wesleyan College to start two new healthcare degree programs.

HealthForce Kentucky is providing funds to assist Brescia University in starting a master's degree program in clinical mental health counseling, and is allocating dollars for Kentucky Wesleyan to expand its business degree program by adding a concentration in healthcare administration.

Officials with both schools said the goal is to have staff in place to begin offering the programs in the fall of 2025.

Healthforce Kentucky is a nonprofit group funded through the General Assembly that focuses on training students for careers in healthcare. The organization was created as a way to increase the number of healthcare professionals in the region.

"The whole goal of the project was to create or expand programs for healthcare workers," said Scott Williams, HealthForce Kentucky board chairman and president of Owensboro Community & Technical College. "The core of HealthForce Kentucky was to get higher education and healthcare to work together."

The group looks at "what are the Kentucky healthcare jobs that are needed" and filling worker gaps in those positions, Williams said.

The Rev. Larry Hostetter, president of Brescia University, said the idea of creating a masters in clinical mental health counseling has been been in the works.

"We've been talking about it for a while," Hostetter said. "But with HealthForce Kentucky, we have been able to move things forward more quickly with the funding available through them.

"For the past few years, we have put more emphasis on mental health" programs, Hostetter said. "...We know there's a huge need, and this (program) fits in so well with our mission of being in service to the community."

The university will do a search for a professor for the master's program, with the intent to start at the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year, Hostetter said.

The funds from HealthForce Kentucky will help start the program, Hostetter said, and that, "eventually, we have to take care of it ourselves, and we have our own skin in the game.

"We are just thrilled to continue to develop as a university," Hostetter said.

Kentucky Wesleyan President James Cousins said the healthcare administration concentration will be part of the college's business administration program.

"We are very intentional in the programs we offer," Cousins said, and said officials did research such as market studies and a survey of community needs before deciding to add the concentration.

"We were pursuing this track independently, and partnering with HealthForce Kentucky was a natural fit," Cousins said.

The concentration will look at all aspects of healthcare administration, such as finance, law, workforce management, hiring and retention and marketing, Cousins said.

"There's a host of things that require professions with more than just financial management" backgrounds, Cousins said. "They have to be able to plan for contingencies in a crisis."

The plan is to start the healthcare administration concentration in the fall of next year, Cousins said.

"We would like to offer it as soon as possible," Cousins said.

Willams said Health Force Kentucky, which is a partnership of several local and state colleges and universities, is planning to bring additional programs to Owensboro that are currently offered elsewhere.

For example, Henderson Community & Technical College will offer a medical lab technician program in Owensboro, and Madisonville Community & Technical College will bring a Licensed Practical Nurse program to the city. Both programs will be offered at the Commonwealth Innovation Center on Frederica Street, when the facility is ready for occupancy.

Having partner schools with existing programs offer the lab technician and LPN courses is faster and more efficient than having to start the programs from scratch and get them accredited, Williams said.

"In the academic world, to get a program like that started, you have to go through accreditation," Williams said.

Having HCTC and MCTC provide the program will "get it to the market much faster," Williams said.