Open Door backs workforce development legislation

Bipartisan legislation proposed by congresswoman Angie Criaig will help our MN Community Health Centers like Open Door Health Center in Southern Minnesota grow their own workforces.

“Rhonda Eastlund, CEO of Open Door Health Center in Mankato, sees the proposal as a critical solution to workforce challenges in safety-net clinics. “Having that path to grow would be vital for our career pathways,” she said. Open Door and other federally qualified health centers, or FQHCs, in Minnesota began an apprenticeship program in recent years in which people receive on-the-job training to become medical or dental assistants. The idea was to offer an alternative path into the field than going through a community college. “It’s harder and harder to find people who are able to go to community college for two years to become an allied health professional because they can’t all do college full time and not work,” Eastlund said.”