Monica Gonzalez an office assistant at Community Regional Medical Centers’ got a boost in her career climb through Community’s program to reimburse employees for the cost of their professional certification or license. She’s now licensed to be a pharmacy technician and is looking to apply for the next pharmacy technician opening at Community or in Community’s Outpatient Pharmacy where she’s worked for the past eight years.
 
“The process of getting reimbursed was easy,” Monica told me. “Wait for the certification or license to come in the mail. Once that’s received, submit an application and copy of the certification to the HR department by fax. It takes about two to three weeks for the reimbursement to get approved.”
 
Nearly 250 employees have taken advantage of the same program Monica did since it was established in 2013. But many more employees could and just haven’t taken the easy steps Monica did.
 
This is just one of the ways Community is trying to encourage employees to grow their careers here. As we continue to expand our hospitals and services it’s more crucial than ever to keep our great employees here and interested in growing with our healthcare network. Did you know $20 million was invested in helping employees grow their careers last year – through tuition reimbursements, extensive leadership training and free professional certifications?
 
Stephanie Torstensen, a physical therapist in acute rehab services at Community Regional, said when she was first interviewing at Community her boss told her about the career development help and opportunities here. “CRMC offered better education reimbursement than a lot of companies,” Stephanie said.
 
Stephanie’s co-worker reminded her about the opportunities when she decided to pursue certification as a Stroke Rehabilitation Specialist along with two other colleagues who work primarily on the ninth floor with neuroscience patients. Stephanie said her manager paid for the continuing education course and she was reimbursed by HR for her certification.
 
“This allowed us to pursue a more detailed understanding in evaluating the deficits we see in stroke patients and how best to treat them,” said Stephanie, who has worked in rehab for the past eight years. “This certification has helped me be more skilled at what I do and provide improved quality of care for my patients.”
 
If you’re looking to help improve patient care, to polish your prospects for moving up at Community or to just enhance your professional skills, don’t forget to take advantage of all the ways Community can help you do that. Check out the “Education and Development” page under the top Learning Opportunities tab on our employee intranet, The Forum.
 
Erin M. Kennedy
Corporate Communications