Detroit woman's healthcare training program reaches 1-year milestone
FOX 2 - Annette Anderson was full of gratitude at Friday's ribbon-cutting ceremony for 1st Step Healthcare Training.
"Today is my one-year anniversary and I’m here one year later," she said.
The backstory:
Anderson's brainchild is a boot camp for nursing assistants, offering training and getting them ready to enter the workforce.
"I felt like healthcare needed a change, and I wanted to make that change," she said. "I wanted to get people in the field that were very empathetic and compassionate. And I also wanted to be an entrepreneur and own my own business, to change the lives of my family - to let them know, if she can do it, I can do it."
For Anderson, it is a passion project.
"You never know when the time you might need someone to take care of you, you need people that are very passionate to take care of you," she said. "I know that I would trust my students taking care of me because I trained them to that standard."
Anderson got $20,000 from Motor City Match as seed money. A business like this needs classroom equipment, furnishing, marketing, and so much more.
Already more than 70 students have graduated from the program.
"Learning from someone who cares about healthcare and takes it as serious as everybody should take it," said Rebecca Platt, a participant. "It's good to know that there are people out there who still care and they want to retrain people to do the same thing for people who need it."
"These are high-paying, well-regarded jobs for people to take care of their families and their communities," said Kevin Johnson, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.
According to projections from a report by Mercer on the future of the U.S. healthcare industry, Michigan is expected to face a projected shortage of 2,520 Certified Nursing Assistants by the year 2028.
Learn more about 1st Step Healthcare Training on its website, HERE.
The Source: Information for this report comes from Detroit's Motor City Match program, the City of Detroit and Annette Anderson.