(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation today (Thursday) at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines declaring next week Apprenticeship Week in Iowa. Broadlawns used an Iowa Workforce Development Grant in 2023 to create a health care worker apprenticeship. Broadlawns chief administrative officer Maria Morgan says they’ve had success.

“We produce healthcare professionals across the state of Iowa that contribute to thriving and healthy communities and a thriving workforce all over the state, and we’re very proud of that. There are a number of different fellowships, apprenticeships, we’re teaching hospital,” she says.

Dentist Haley Harvey is From Detroit and says she is happy to develop new people in the profession because she chose Iowa when she decided to become a dentist. “And I remember when I had a decision to make about where I was going to go to dental school, and the decision became crystal clear for me that University of Iowa was my school,” Harvey says. “And I never ever regretted that decision. So I’m proud as well to be 30 years as a dentist and a public health dentist at practicing here at Broad laws Medical Center.” She says she loves the history of Broadlawns.

“Also loved that it had a quiet reputation for training the best and the brightest, starting with the nurses building to the medical doctors, the residents, and later dentistry,” she says. Ramon Ford is a healthcare tech who studied criminal justice before a friend talked him into trying the apprentice program.

“Never had any like healthcare, like professional or experience or anything. So coming into this, I was a little bit worried about that, because I was like, man, like, what am I gonna do?,” He says “I didn’t really know what C-N-As did. Like, my views of nurses were completely off. They do a lot more than I thought, you know. So I was like, this, you know, I might be a little, like, not good at this,.” He says the program allows you to succeed.

“The only way you can fail, is if you don’t want to do it, there’s, like, no way they’ll let you fail. You know, they give you all the resources and everything you need and all the support, you know, a lot of people that help you out,” Ford says.

The governor and hospital officials say there continues to be a big need for healthcare workers in Iowa.