OSF HealthCare has partnered with the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation to fund STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) education for area schools.
Entering the workforce with STEAM skills prove crucial for today’s employers. At OSF HealthCare, STEAM experience is critical for research and development, creating and adopting innovations and working in technologically challenging roles. In health care, serious skilled workforce shortages are projected over the next decade.
“As a Mission-driven organization, we’re not only looking to serve our patients, but we’re also looking to serve the community, and our STEAM programming is one of the ways in which we can do that,“ stated, Noël Adams, Director of Operations for OSF HealthCare Jump Simulation. “We offer opportunities for students to come in and have some clinical immersions as well as some skills-based active learning to see if a health care career is right for them.”
The Starved Rock Community Foundation has created a Jump Simulation Center Fund to provide financial assistance to area schools who may be interested in enrolling students into a Jump Simulation STEAM program.
“As we think about the future leaders and workforce for our communities, these types of opportunities for our youth have a positive impact,” stated Ken Beutke, President of OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center. “The exposure to STEAM creates interest and passion for future career choices and benefits our communities’ supply of a skilled future workforce,”
OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa and OSF Saint Paul Medical Center in Mendota have provided an initial donation of $5,000 to create the fund.
“Establishing funds such as this under the umbrella of the SRCCF is our primary mission”, said Pamela Beckett, President of the Community Foundation. “We connect people who care with causes that matter to them and provide a vehicle for donors to invest in those causes as we create new programs and enhance existing ones throughout Starved Rock Country. We believe our students deserve the opportunity to experience the Jump Simulation Center and are honored that OSF Saint Elizabeth and OSF Saint Paul chose to provide the initial funding to launch this new initiative with us. We invite individuals and businesses, particularly those in the medical field and other STEAM industries to participate in the growth of the Fund.”
Interested donors may contact Pamela Beckett at the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation by calling (815) 252-2906.
About Jump Simulation
Jump Simulation at OSF HealthCare, located on the OSF Saint Francis Medical Center campus in Peoria, was created to improve outcomes and lower health care costs through innovative simulation training of medical professionals. The programs and objectives of Jump Simulation are key to improving the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of care for community members across the region.
About the Starved Rock Community Foundation
The Starved Rock Country Community Foundation is a grant-making public charity dedicated to improving the lives of people in LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam Counties. The SRCCF is committed to bringing together the financial resources of individuals, families and businesses to support effective non-profit agencies and other local charitable initiatives; to create and manage scholarships for local students; and to provide philanthropic leadership throughout the Starved Rock region. The Foundation is one of more than 950 such foundations across the United States and can be accessed online at srccf.org.