Opportunity is knocking

Taking advantage of career development opportunities will change your life, as it did for these newly minted nurses

March 25, 2008

Nermin Arnaut, a pharmacy technician, routinely got up at 5 in the morning to study, before his wife and daughters were awake.

Diana Balandran, a medical assistant, learned to alternate where she focused her attention: First she spent some one-on-one time playing with her young son, then she hit the books. He wound up learning anatomy along with her.

Titza Suvalcu, whose work dealt with research compliance issues, decided she had to set new priorities the day her 6-year-old daughter snuggled into her lap while Suvalcu was doing homework and said, "Mommy, I wish I could sit on your lap forever." Keeping the house spic and span, she decided, wasn't as important as spending time with her three daughters and husband, doing a good job at work—and studying hard.

Today all three are newly minted nurses, having graduated in December with their AA degrees after 2 1/2 grueling years of juggling school, work and family. They were part of a group of nearly two dozen Kaiser Permanente employees who "won the lottery," as one student put it, and were part of the Contracted Associates Degree in Nursing program in the Northwest region.

Quality service and care

Few companies offer as much career development support to employees as Kaiser Permanente does. There's an economic motivation, to be sure, since the estimated cost of filling a position is 1.5 times the annual salary for that position. But there's a more intangible value as well—a loyal and stable workforce can deliver quality service and care like no other.

"I was so happy as a Kaiser employee to start with, not because they put me through school, it's that they've treated me very well," said 30-year-old Patricia Taylor, who was an SEIU Local 49 phlebotomist at the North Lancaster clinic. "And then, to add this on top of it!...This gave me a chance to do what I really want to do, and to be of better service to the community I live in."

"It's completely changed my life," said Keri Fleming, 39, who was working as a UFCW Local 555 member imaging assistant at the regional call center for radiology and is a single mom with two children, ages 8 and 10. "Not just the financial aspects—the fact I'll be able to own my own home and raise my standard of living—but how I feel about myself as a person. Before, I felt like I was the one that was needy. Now I feel like I'll have the opportunity to give back, and that's really exciting."

Fleming's sentiments were echoed by student after student in the program. All agreed that the stress of juggling work, school and family—in many ways, the hardest aspect of the program, and one of the significant considerations for employees who want to go back to school—was more than worth it.

'A bigger perspective'

For Balandran—who was an SEIU Local 49 member working at Cascade Park Medical Office and, at 24, was the youngest student in the program—being part of a diverse group that became one big family was important. "It's given me a bigger perspective," she said, and in the end, "all those personal experiences help you give better care."

Some of the elements of the nurse training program were unusual. For one, because it was started before the creation of the Taft-Hartley educational trusts, which now provide funding for training programs for Union Coalition members, it was paid for primarily through the region's workforce development budget.

But the program's basic elements were similar to those of other workforce development programs throughout Kaiser Permanente:

• There's an emphasis on training employees for "hard-to-fill" positions.
• Partnering with local community colleges and other organizations is a high priority.
• In this case, KP picked up the cost of relief time, so the students could reduce the hours they were working. But employees who meet certain requirements can apply for a stipend.

Perhaps the most important common thread through all workforce development programs is the end result: Kaiser Permanente retains good employees by giving them an opportunity to grow in their careers without changing employers.

"From the regional perspective at Kaiser Permanente, we've gained fantastic hires, and they were already here," said registered nurse Paulette Hawkins, who taught part-time in the program and is the region's safety education coordinator.

The program came into being when the Oregon Health Career Center approached Kaiser Permanente to collaborate on a nurse training program that would be offered through Clackamas Community College. More than 300 KP employees applied; 100 went through partnership interviews; two dozen ultimately were chosen.

"There wasn't one area that could completely hurt or help you," said Brandon Byars, the regional workforce planning coordinator in the Northwest. "We gave points to employees based on how long they'd been with the organization, for example, and points for their education level." Supervisors provided feedback on the applicant's ability to work as a team member as well as punctuality and attendance—critical information in selecting the right candidates for an accelerated program where every hour would be packed with information, and missing one day would be a setback.

Words of advice

Arnaut—who didn't call in sick a single day in 5½ years as a UFCW Local 555 pharmacy tech at Sunnyside Inpatient Pharmacy—was the first person in his family to get a college degree. He flew his father in from Bosnia to attend the December pinning ceremony.

"I'll probably keep going to get my bachelor's," said the 36-year-old, who was planning to become a pharmacist when war broke out in his homeland. He was 21 when he left the country, living first in Germany, then coming to the United States. "For right now—I'm just hoping to transition into the nursing role as smoothly as possible."

For others considering growing beyond their current jobs, Suvalcu had these words of advice.

"I don't think anybody can be more scared of change than I was!" said Suvalcu, 45, who emigrated from Romania to the United States when she was 24 and was employed at the Kaiser Center for Health Research, in the Research Subjects Protection Office. "I don't like to get out of my comfort zone. But, going though school, going through college, it helps you in everyday life. It makes you not only book smart, it makes you smarter, period. It's totally worth facing your fear."

"Just go for it," Arnaut said. "You can't go wrong."

Postscript: The new nurses are all now working at Sunnyside Hospital. Arnaut and Balandran have jobs in the progressive care unit; Fleming is in maternal child nursing; Suvalcu is working in oncology and Taylor is working in the telemetry unit.