By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A new scholarship opportunity will aim to help the workforce shortage in the healthcare industry.
The Mosaic Life Care Foundation has launched the Health Care Workforce Development Scholarship
Foundation President Julie Gaddie says with the work force shortage in certain healthcare areas, the job has become a nationwide talent competition of sorts.
"So, this is a way to entice our high school seniors' interest in healthcare, to not only support their educational experience, but also to build a relationship with them," Gaddie tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "In hopes that post-graduation they would consider coming back to Mosaic Life Care to service the northwest Missouri region as a healthcare provider."
Gaddie says when students think about joining the healthcare field, it's as nurses or physicians, but she says there are many other careers beyond that.
"We see things like respiratory therapy and being some kind of a lab scientist, thinking about jobs in technology, thinking about jobs in various services that are included in that healthcare experience as very high need areas," Gaddie explains.
The deadline to apply for the scholarship is March 15th and it is open to any graduating senior in the region looking to go to school for healthcare.
Gaddie says for right now the scholarship will only be awarded to one student, but they hope that in the future that can expand.
"We are anxious ot see the response from our high school seniors and the number of applicants that come in," Gaddie says. "And that will help us gauge the demand for this kind of scholarship and future plans for the number of scholarships to be handed out."
The scholarship can be applied for on the Mosaic Life Care Foundation website for students that qualify.