The health care industry, a rare area of the economy still showing employment growth, has been given a boost in Westchester in the form of federal training funds.
In Yonkers, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, announced $250,000 in federal support in 2010 for nurse training at St. John”™s Riverside Hospital and its Cochran School of Nursing. Lowey, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, said the funding will help the school to continue to expand its facilities and enrollment.
Founded in 1894, Cochran is the oldest hospital-based school of nursing and the largest nursing school in Westchester, according to the Riverside Health Care website. The school trains registered-nurse students, who receive an associate”™s degree in applied science. Since 1999, school enrollment has grown from 50 students to more than 300 currently in the professional nursing program.
St. John”™s Riverside Hospital CEO James Foy in a statement said a nursing degree for many students “represents a path to the middle-class. The demand for nurses in our health care system is outpacing the ability of schools to train new nurses. This federal assistance will help us expand facilities to accommodate a greater number of students, who will fill the shortage in our work force.”
State labor Department officials recently reported the health care and social assistance fields added 25,000 jobs in New York in 2009 from 2008, a 2 percent increase. Only the educational services sector showed a higher percentage gain statewide for the year, at 2.4 percent, adding 9,000 jobs since 2008, according to Labor Department officials.
Lowey said nurses are in especially high demand and needed “to fill severe gaps in our health care work force.”
The congresswoman cited federal statistics that show the health care industry nationally provides 14.3 million jobs for wage and salary workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10 of the 20 fastest growing occupations are related to health care. Federal officials estimate health care will generate 3.2 million new jobs between 2008 and 2018, more than any other industry, largely in response to rapid growth in the elderly population.
