May 1, 2025
News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz On Wednesday, nursing students at Alpena Community College are seen standing in a simulation room on campus. Students in the ACC nursing program have the option to participate in a tuition assistance program with MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena.
ALPENA — With an aging population and declining numbers of health care practitioners, Michigan is facing a precarious future when it comes to access to care. To ensure that future retirees have the care they need and deserve, innovative solutions are needed to fill gaps.
The Michigan Health Council (MHC) is a nonprofit that is committed to creating solutions to protect and strengthen the health care workforce in Michigan. MHC is trying to get ahead of the curve before access to care is greatly minimized for the subset of Michigan’s population who are approaching retirement age. According to the MHC, this approaching exodus is putting more pressure on health care workers and the health care workforce as a whole.
Craig Donahue, president and CEO of MHC, explained that Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula pose unique challenges to health care that can only be solved with innovation. To circumvent this growing need, MHC has created the Michigan Health Care Workforce Plan that outlines health care disparities in Michigan and offers suggestions as to how state stakeholders (such as colleges and care facilities) can develop a robust health care workforce.
MHC is working with stakeholders, such as community colleges, universities, and a variety of health care facilities, to fill the gaps in health care by creating access to health care education and retaining talent.
“We need to pay attention to students who are raised here (leave to go to school) and then are employed elsewhere,” Donahue said. “We need to retain talent.”
Donahue views partnerships between community colleges and local medical centers as crucial to creating a sufficient health care workforce. Donahue explained that giving students the ability to study from home and complete clinical rotations locally will bridge gaps in education access.
Alpena Community College’s (ACC) nursing program helps to bridge some of those gaps in Alpena.
Don MacMaster, president of ACC, explained that interest in the ACC nursing program has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to MacMaster, in the last six to seven years, ACC has invested close to $10 million into the spaces where nursing is taught.
“Health care is fundamental,” MacMaster said. “We have an aging population that will require more health care.”
MacMaster noted that ACC offers several types of scholarships available to all its students and has a partnership with Saginaw Valley State University that enables ACC nursing students to earn their BSN without having to move for school.
MacMaster also explained that they are able to offer nursing programs to students located at their Oscoda campus, as well.
MacMaster noted ACC’s partnership with MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena as another important aspect of the program. MacMaster explained that their partnership allows students the opportunity to sign a two-year contract with MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena in return for tuition assistance.
Tom Kane, vice president of nursing at MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena, explained that their partnership with ACC began when the hospital wanted to create a pipeline for talent and ACC wanted to further develop their nursing program.
“It’s a very symbiotic relationship,” Kane said.
Kane explained that students who go through their tuition assistance program leave ACC with a higher level of competence when they enter the workforce.
“Those students that are in the program…because they got so much patient care time…they performed at a much higher level,” Kane said.
Students who are accepted into MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena’s tuition program for nursing are required to work at the hospital for at least 12 hours a week, according to Kane. Once they graduate, they are required to work for MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena for two years to pay it back.
Kane explained that without the MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena partnership, some students would not be able to afford to be in the program.
“This is something that has been incredibly successful for all,” Kane said.
Aside from tuition assistance, ACC’s nursing program also offers opportunities for students to explore the health care field.
Kelli Leask, director of nursing at ACC, explained that the nursing program is unique in that students are exposed to many different areas of nursing, such as working with individuals with special needs, working in psychiatric facilities, or hospice.
“So it opens up the doors for students to work in many different areas of health care,” Leask said.
Further, Leask said that nursing is an “in-demand profession.”
“We have an aging population and we have increasing co-morbidity of disease,” Leask said. “So, preventing disease and educating our communities about ways in which we can prevent disease and become healthier is very important in our nursing role as well.”
Overall, Leask noted the importance of the nursing program and its success.
“We have 24 seats in Alpena for the RN program and 24 seats for the LPN program,” Leask said. “In our RN program, we have more applicants than we do seats, so the interest is still there, which is good.”
Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.
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