VeteranTutors: Still Serving
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7.6 million Americans lost their jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007, including 85,000 in December 2009. One of the few bright spots in the economy is the healthcare industry, which added more than 636,000 jobs during the same period, including 18,000 in January 2010. We can anticipate that the healthcare workforce will continue to expand.
Converting our healthcare industry to computerized recordkeeping is a national priority. However, there is a dramatic shortage of trained workers in the specialized field of Health Information Technology that is a barrier to widespread implementation. In other words, we will have to train a lot of people to do this work, more than 200,000 by some estimates. Our mission is to qualify veterans for these jobs.
As part of our training program for careers in Health Information Technology, our veterans help underserved families build comprehensive electronic health records for all family members. They also show the families how to schedule appointments and exchange information over the Internet with their healthcare providers.