Training

The Workforce Training and Leadership Development Center equips managers, leaders and staff with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to achieve First Choice’s Community Health mission.

The Workforce Training Center is located at 1316 Broadway SE in the former South Broadway Health Center. We remodeled the space to provide for a computer lab; practice exam rooms and lab; classrooms and offices for the training staff.

Goals:

1. Reduce turnover rate of patient service representatives and medical assistants by:

• Improving the applicant pool through pre-application screening and centralized interviewing
• Strengthening the new employee orientation and pre-placement training
• Re-training and skills refresher sessions to meet the changing needs and skill deficits
• Strengthening the management and leadership skills of supervisors
• Aligning job descriptions, competencies, performance plans and evaluations

2. Increase the earning power/ economic mobility of our workforce and our communities by:

• Partnering with the Health Leadership High School to strengthen the worker pipeline
• Partnering with CNM, UNM and others to expand our staff’s educational opportunities
• Building career ladders and lattices for staff to advance as their skills increase
• Offering basic household budgeting, communication and stress management workshops

We equip our employees with the tools and skills they need to perform in our changing environment:

• All will get mandatory training in our practice management system, EMR, service delivery model and critical success factors including teamwork and effective communication skills, customer service.
• Some will get additional training and coaching through our Leadership Development Program. This program is tied to the most pressing business and service delivery needs of the organization and include: managing staff, change management, process improvement, organizational leadership, contributing to the effective running of the organization and developing a shared sense of responsibility for the success of the organization and its services.
• All will be offered optional professional (and personal) development training such as Spanish medical terminology, Motivational Interviewing, Health Literacy and workshops on goal-setting, household budgeting, career planning.

We serve as a Hub and future resource for other organizations in community:

• Hub for all the training and professional development activities of First Choice – keep track of injection training, CPR, billing/coding and Interpreter Training.
• Resource for others in areas in which we develop a strong competency.
• Liaison and bridge with the Health Leadership High School – be able to continuously identify the entry-level skill requirements of our organization and participate in the design and development of curriculum and evaluation of HLHS program as a key industry partner and potential employer of its graduates. Pipeline work.