Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) and OneFuture Coachella Valley's Healthcare Workforce Leadership Roundtable are supporting the expansion of nurse training in the Coachella Valley to provide an additional 70 students in the College of the Desert Nursing Program—doubling the size of the 2024-25 class.
IEHP is part of the Healthcare Workforce Roundtable, a group of healthcare industry leaders that formed to create a local response to the nationwide shortage of nursing and healthcare professionals with a total $2.9 million commitment by RoundTable members to College of the Desert's nursing program. The commitment covers program costs, expansion of the skills lab, student scholarships and holistic support services that ensure program completion and successful transition into the workforce.
"As a proud member of the Healthcare Workforce Leadership Roundtable, IEHP is honored to support the expansion of College of the Desert's nursing program," said IEHP Chief Executive Officer Jarrod McNaughton. "We cannot solve the region's health care workforce shortages alone. This initiative reflects what is possible when we join forces to invest not only in future talent, but also in the future of health in the Coachella Valley."
IEHP's support helps expand the RN program's skills lab. Along with housing skills beds and equipment to accommodate the additional students, the lab will also be used to host free vaccination clinics for the community at large.
"Removing barriers for local students is critical to building a compassionate and responsive local workforce," said Sheila Thornton, CEO of OneFuture Coachella Valley. "Often it is not just the tuition that is the barrier, but other factors such as housing or transportation. Removing those barriers can help a student graduate on time and start their careers as nurses caring for patients in our hospitals and healthcare centers."
Having the support of an industry-led coalition like the Roundtable was vital to jumpstart the expansion of seats in College of the Desert's nursing program.
"We are honored and grateful to be chosen as a trusted partner in the endeavor to head off Coachella Valley's looming healthcare workforce shortage," said Interim Superintendent/President Laura Hope. "In addition to adding more qualified employees to the healthcare workforce, we get to change the trajectory of more students' lives. Additionally, when our students benefit, many of whom will become first-generation college graduates, the entire community benefits."
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