The healthcare industry is at a crossroads.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for healthcare professionals is projected to grow by 13% by 2031. That’s much faster than the average for all occupations. And at the same time, the pipeline of qualified workers is struggling to keep pace.

Why is all this happening? There are a number of factors, including:

• An aging population, leading to an increase in demand for healthcare services, particularly in hospice, home health, and palliative care
• Burnout and attrition as a growing number of healthcare professionals are leaving their fields due to high stress, long hours, and a still lingering emotional fatigue caused by the pandemic
• Educational barriers, such as costs and time commitments, that deter far too many potential candidates, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds
• A simple lack of awareness among the public of the rewarding career opportunities available in healthcare—especially in home-based hospice, home health, and palliative care

Our Pathways to Care Careers initiative is designed to help respond to these challenges by creating meaningful opportunities for aspiring healthcare professionals.

It’s also a vehicle for inspiring the next generation of nurses, hospice aides, home health aides, social workers, physical therapists, spiritual counselors, bereavement counselors—all the critical interdisciplinary care team members needed to support home-based care for our most vulnerable.

To do this, we are collaborating with local schools, colleges, and vocational programs around Marin County to provide healthcare-focused curriculum, internships, and job shadowing opportunities.

Our initial partners are the Marin County Office of Education, Dominican University’s School of Nursing, and the College of Marin. But that’s just the initial partnerships. Our goal is to expand the initiative across the Bay Area in the years to come.

There are three main pillars of the Pathways to Care Careers initiative:

1. Education
2. Career development
3. Cost of living

Beyond partnerships, the initiative is focused on removing financial barriers by offering scholarships and loan forgiveness to program participants, as well as rotations, internships, and preceptorship programs that pair participants with experienced healthcare professionals.

The initiative also meets people where they are in their healthcare employment journey, from entry-level training to advanced certifications, and we work closely with participants to help them find long-term employment.

Most importantly, Pathways to Care Careers is focused on outreach to the communities that may have complex relationships with the healthcare system in general, making choosing healthcare as a career path an even bigger hurdle.

Investing in changing healthcare for the better

With Pathways to Care Careers, we want to create a ripple effect that extends far beyond our work at By the Bay Health.

By training and bringing new professionals into the healthcare fold, we’re helping to alleviate staffing shortages in the industry, which will help more patients receive timely, quality care.

We’re also promoting much-needed diversity and inclusion in the industry by reaching out to underrepresented communities to build a workforce that reflects the diverse populations and fosters more culturally competent care.

There’s still a lot of work to do, of course, but by encouraging more people—from all walks of life—to not only explore but actively embrace a career in healthcare, we’re confident we can make a very real difference.

The next generation of healthcare workers needs a stronger foundation. By empowering more people to pursue meaningful careers in one of the most important care settings—the home—we can go a long way toward building that foundation.

By the Bay Health is celebrating our 50th anniversary of elevating hospice and palliative care. You can help us with our goal of empowering more people to devote their lives to the healthcare of others. Visit our Pathways to Care Careers page to learn how you can contribute.