At a community breakfast event, leaders from Sanford Health and the wider Fargo community gathered to talk about educating and investing in the next generation of healthcare professionals.
The invite-only event included educational leaders, legislative members, community members, civic leaders and philanthropic partners, along with a panel of Sanford Health leaders. Appropriately, the event was held at Sanford’s new Amber Valley campus in Fargo, a hub of healthcare education in the area.
“As a nonprofit healthcare system, we are a community asset,” said Tiffany Lawrence, president and CEO of Sanford Health Fargo. “It is our responsibility to invite people in and show them what we’re doing and how we are being a good community steward and partner. We’re all part of this community and we need to contribute in the ways that we can.”
Building the healthcare workforce
Trends in North Dakota and many other parts of rural America show an aging population. This means older patients who need more care, but it means an older healthcare workforce as well.
According to the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 46% of physicians are 55 or older, and approximately 20% of nurses fall in that age range as well. North Dakota’s population has also grown by more than 100,000 people since the turn of the century.
With an aging workforce, more demand for healthcare, and increasingly complex care needs, it’s obvious one area of focus for hospitals is attracting new providers any way they can. Likewise, investing in workforce development can keep many future healthcare providers right where they want to be: close to home.
“Historically what we’ve seen is many young people from our region go to school, train for a career, have to relocate geographically to a different part of the country, and then they develop roots there and they don’t come home,” said David Theige, M.D., Sanford Health medical director, graduate medical education. “Many of these people started with the intention that they want to serve our communities close to home, and we are making that more feasible.”
During the panel discussion, Dr. Theige mentioned that some of his former teachers were in attendance at the community breakfast. It was a moment that showed how training and expertise in the Fargo-Moorhead area have been passed down from generation to generation. It’s a culture of education that will continue through Dr. Theige’s work at Sanford Health.
“This is the most gratifying late career opportunity someone like me could ever have,” Dr. Theige said. “I actually went to the University of Minnesota for my clinical training and when I left, like a lot of young people from this area, I thought, ‘This is my chance to go to the big city and I’ll probably never come back.’ But there was this young internal medicine training program starting here that I was recruited to because I had a mentor and I wanted to be a part of it.”
There are now 13 residency and fellowship programs in the Fargo region, including 10 that are directly affiliated with the University of North Dakota. More than 150 residents and fellows take part annually. Dr. Theige and others at Sanford Fargo have added nine of those 13 programs in the past decade alone.
Aspire by Sanford
One other way Sanford is building a sustainable future workforce is through the Aspire program. Linda Kirchhevel is the director of Aspire by Sanford, which promotes healthcare careers by appealing to students of all ages.
“Aspire is about helping students discover and imagine the possibilities available to them through meaningful experiences and exposure to healthcare careers opportunities they may not have otherwise had the chance to see or experience for themselves,” said Kirchhevel. “Each of us can likely point to someone who sparked our curiosity, encouraged our potential, or helped shape our path. One of the most meaningful parts of healthcare is helping inspire and open doors for the next generation.”
Aspire programs vary by education level, with tailored outreach for different age groups. Some help elementary students discover healthcare careers through classroom visits, while others offer middle school students volunteer opportunities. Juniors and seniors at rural high schools also can attend HOPE Camp, a program that partners with North Dakota State University and Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead. HOPE Camp offers a chance to experience different healthcare professions to those who live farther away from Fargo.
“Because many rural students are not able to easily travel to our programs during the academic school year, we created this summer experience for them,” Kirchhevel said. “Students have the chance to explore a wide variety of departments across Sanford through hands-on experiences. One of the most rewarding parts is watching them build lifelong friendships and then seeing many of them grow from students into healthcare professionals in their own careers.”
Overall, Aspire and other Sanford outreach programs interact more than 15,000 times each year with K-12 students, introducing them to healthcare careers.
Investing in the future
The panel closed with some big news: a $1 million endowment was given by the Barry Foundation in honor of Marilyn Guy, a Concordia College education professor for more than 50 years and former board chair of the Sanford Fargo Foundation. The endowment is designated for K-12 education.
“It’s National Teacher Appreciation Week this week, and she’s been a teacher, leader and community advocate her entire career, so we are really excited to honor her,” Lawrence said. “The endowment will be transformational in that space. We’ll be able to grow it, and to extend our reach to more kids to get them interested in health sciences.”
Community commitment will continue to be a priority for Sanford Health in the future as well. Some key initiatives in the coming years include a new cardiovascular disease fellowship program, a multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology fellowship program scheduled to launch in 2027, and a planned expansion of the radiology program, which will have the capacity to double the number of students thanks to additional space at the same Amber Valley campus where the community breakfast took place.
Learn more
- Aspire program gives students a closer look at Sanford jobs
- Sanford offers apprenticeship in health care professions
- Curiosity sparks decades of guiding students through science
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Posted In Community Impact, Fargo, Leadership in Healthcare, Postgraduate Programs, Thought Leadership, Undergrad College Resources, Workplace Health
