As a qualifying licensed community-based home care provider, Our Lady of Peace (OLP) was eligible to apply for a Minnesota Dual-Training Pipeline grant, and we were successful! This grant presents a unique opportunity for our staff to earn while they learn, enhancing their skills and advancing their careers.
The Minnesota Dual-Training Pipeline through the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry supports employers in creating or enhancing a competency-based, earn-and-learn dual-training approach to meeting their workforce needs. The Private Industry Public Education (PIPELINE) grant is a paired scholarship that allows someone to work while in an education program and be paired with a mentor in their field.
Members of our staff will receive a combination of related instruction paired with on-the-job training. They are unable to provide care without their degree, but they can take advantage of the education OLP provides and have a mentor in their field to talk to about what they’re learning in the classroom and how it applies to the healthcare position they are seeking. They will have exposure to nurses, social workers and other caregivers, can sit in on meetings, and be paid while going to school.
Five OLP staffers are benefiting from the grant. Two are earning a master’s degree in nursing, two are earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and one is earning a master’s degree in social work. When you have an undergrad degree in the sciences, you can get a master’s in nursing within 18-24 months. People who come into nursing with an advanced degree are promoted quickly.
OLP is pleased to help make it possible for valued members of our staff to earn while they learn within our residential hospice and hospice and home health care in the community programs. Nancy Larson, Hospice & Home Health Care Director of Nursing says, “As a small, non-profit organization, we are grateful for the financial support that is allowing us to invest in our valued staff and retain them.”