AURORA | Since the old Fitzsimons Army Hospital grounds morphed into the Anschutz Medical Campus in 2007, the thriving medical facilities there have been a major driver for the local economy.
According to the Aurora Economic Development Council, the campus pumps more than $4.5 billion a year into the local economy and employs more than 21,000 people.
Still, while business booms on campus, many of the surrounding neighborhoods remain some of Aurora’s poorest. Officials from Community College of Aurora and the University of Colorado Anschutz say a new program aimed at getting people in north Aurora jobs at the campus could share the wealth with those living closest to the campus.
Last month, CCA received a $106,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Education that will pay to train north Aurora residents for jobs at Anschutz.
The 10-week Adult Learning Healthcare Bridge Project is set to start in April and will begin taking applications in February.
Joyce Benson-Fox, director of CCA’s Center for Workforce Development, said the program will train people with a GED, people working toward a GED and others in one of two career paths: sterile processing and patient navigation. At the same time, the students will also take courses aimed at improving their basic math and writing skills.
Students enrolled will be taking classes at close to a full-time schedule, she said, with an eye toward having them ready to join the workforce when the program is complete.
“It is a fast-track program,” she said.
Benson-Fox said students who choose the sterile processing path can find jobs working with surgical teams and continue on to become a surgical technician. Students in the patient navigation track can find work in a variety of hospital customer service and administrative roles.
The school is trying to recruit people from the program from two zip codes close to the campus — 80010 and 80011. But, Benson-Fox said, the program is open to anyone from Aurora.
Funding for the grant comes from the Adult Basic Education legislation passed by state lawmakers last year and sponsored by Rep. Rhonda Fields.
Robert McGranaghan, director of the Community-Campus Partnership and professor at Colorado School of Public Health, said in a statement that the funds from the grant will serve an important role.
“We believe that the key to community health is through community wealth, and one way to achieve that goal is to help people gain access to good jobs that exist on the Campus,” he said.
I guess it’s good for the medical campus to “make its neighbors its employees.” But it would be even better to make its employees its neighbors. I’d like to see incentives for the Anschutz employees to live near the campus. It would do wonders for property values in North Aurora.
No! That would gentrify our neighborhood. We love living here and I do not want Anschutz employees to further displace our neighborhood! The original idea of the grant is far, far better!