Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 30, 2016 13A
Rodgers: Hospital ‘most rewarding’ work
Continued from A1
“I also think the affiliation
with OHSU eventually will
prove to provide us with a
lot of opportunity,” Rodgers
said.
With just a little more
than a month in the new
job, Rodgers still is getting to
know the Dallas community
and West Valley organiza-
tion.
He said the hospital is in a
strong position and has a
healthy relationship with
Salem Health.
“The investment that
West Valley has seen from
Salem Health in the last five
to seven years has been
pretty significant, and has
really helped bring the hos-
pital in a lot of areas, into
state of the art,” he said,
adding his primary purpose
is to keep West Valley in that
position.
Before taking the West
Valley job, Rodgers was an
administrator in surgical
services at Salem Health
Meet Bruce
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Bruce Rodgers talks with a Salem Health West Valley employee during a staff meeting
on Friday. Rodgers took the position of hospital administrator in February.
and, previous to that, the di-
rector of human resources.
He began his health care ca-
reer about seven years ago,
making a switch from the
telecom industry.
“Once I connected into
health care, into the hospi-
tal setting, I knew it was
something I didn’t want to
leave. It was the most re-
warding work of my life, for
Education: Bachelor’s
degree from Carnegie
Melon University in Pitts-
burgh and Master’s from
Oregon Health & Science
University and Portland
State University’s joint
health care MBA program.
Hometown: Pittsburgh,
Penn.
Favorite Sports teams:
Pittsburgh Steelers, Pitt
Panthers and Portland Trail
Blazers.
Hobbies: Cross Fit
workouts, volleyball, hiking
and spending time out-
doors.
Family: Three dogs, a
Chihuahua mix, a cocker
spaniel mix and a big, lufy
Alaskan malamute.
sure,” he said.
Rodgers said he had al-
ways strived to provide good
customer service and offer
employees the best work en-
vironment, but in health
care, that means much
more.
“In health care you are
able to help people and able
to contribute to the better-
ment of their life,” he said.
“There are people who are
very mission-driven. They
understand, at the end of
the day, your focus is on
what is in the best interest of
the patient."
So far, that’s what he’s
seen at West Valley, and be-
lieves it is his job to contin-
ue to foster that environ-
ment.
“I just see a lot of top-
notch people who are very
dedicated to providing these
services,” he said.
At this point, Rodgers is
still in the “listening and
learning” stage, something
he believes is critical to
keeping the hospital moving
forward.
“I want to make good de-
cisions,” he said. “I want to
really tap into the wisdom
that is already here.”
Career, technical education emerging focus in Dallas
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — With the approval of
the facility maintenance bond last
year, Dallas School District found
itself with resources to design a
“career and technical education”
program of its own.
Bond money gives the district
an opportunity to remodel its facil-
ities to provide space for the pro-
gram, which would teach students
skills to industry standards in
fields such as building and manu-
facturing.
Now the district is wanting feed-
back from businesses, students
and the community on what
should be included.
“What we are trying to do is
wrap our arms around what this
should look like,” said Dallas Su-
perintendent Michelle Johnstone
at a recent joint meeting between
the district and the city of Dallas.
District and city officials have
spent time in Salem touring
Salem-Keizer Public Schools Ca-
reer Technical Education Center,
which opened this school year
with two programs, residential
construction and commercial
manufacturing. More programs
will be introduced in the coming
years.
About 10 students already had
businesses offer them jobs — be-
fore graduation — and Salem-Keiz-
er district officials say that number
could increase significantly follow-
ing a job fair slated for May.
Salem’s program has been tout-
ed as a model for what Dallas
wants to develop.
“That’s a leg up that I feel we in
this community need to provide
for our students,” said Dallas City
Manager Ron Foggin. “It really
shined a light on what we need to
be working at for our community,
for our kids.”
Dallas School Board member
Mike Bollman said the tour left
him encouraged about what his
district could develop.
“I came away from that so com-
pletely energized, knowing that
that is possible in Dallas,” he said.
“And it’s going to happen.”
Mike Blanchard, also a board
member, said Salem’s center was
the product of partnerships with
business that could foresee a need
for more workers with a certain set
of skills. He said in order for a pro-
gram to work in Dallas, similar
partnerships would be needed.
“What are the occupations that
are in demand here in Dallas?”
Blanchard said. “I think that we
should keep in mind that we have
a few large employers here in
town. We have a lot of small em-
ployers. If we are wanting to help
them, let’s think about what skills
are really in demand there.”
Chelsea Metcalfe, the executive
director of the Dallas Area Cham-
ber of Commerce, said she believes
area businesses would be interest-
ed in helping teach students not
only skills for industry, but also
“soft skills.”
Workers with soft skills are those
who understand what it means to
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Ben Stange shows Central sophomore Adriana Avila how to poten-
tially save a life during Central High School’s career fair on March 11.
be dependable, know how to solve
problems and communicate well
on the job.
“I think that is what the commu-
nity has been screaming about for
the last several years, and this is
the best way to answer all of those
concerns,” Metcalfe said. “How do
we get kids developed in some
type of trade field or at least know-
ing lots of different things?”
Metcalfe agrees with Blanchard
in that what is developed needs to
have a strong local focus.
That is true of all “workforce”
programs, said Metcalfe, who has
been appointed to the board of di-
rectors of Incite, a nonprofit work-
force development agency working
in Polk, Marion, Yamhill and Linn
counties.
“We might only be over the river
from Salem, but it’s a completely
different dynamic in the people,
and how the community and how
employers work,” Metcalfe said.
Johnstone presented a draft de-
velopment timeline for the CTE
planning Monday that has the dis-
trict gathering feedback through
the spring. The timeline has a draft
plan to the school board by this
summer and program implemen-
tation beginning in early 2017.
A CTE program may not be the
only opportunity for the district to
prepare students for careers.
Morrison Alternative Campus
Principal Brian Green has been
working with students and local
businesses to put together an in-
ternship program with local needs
in mind.
Green said in talking with stu-
dents, he found they were strug-
gling to find jobs they were quali-
fied to do.
“They really lacked that volun-
teer, that intern experience — the
resume builders — to show the ex-
perience,” Green said.
Green said a number of Morri-
son students take job skills assess-
ments required for earning a Na-
tional Career Readiness Certificate.
The certificate has four levels
which measure a worker’s profi-
ciency in on-the-job skills. He said
a number of businesses in Polk
County have agreed to give those
with certificates of a certain level
preferential treatment when apply-
ing for a job.
Now he’s looking for those busi-
nesses to give students a six-week,
unpaid internship as something of
an on-the-job interview. If the rela-
tionship works out in the initial
time period, Green is hoping that
translates into a summer job.
“It does two things. No. 1 it pro-
vides jobs for students,” he said. “It
also provides the experience nec-
essary to help them be mar-
ketable.”
The program holds benefits for
employers, too.
“It will decrease the amount of
time and effort it takes to train,” he
said. “There will be less retraining,
and I think they would find that
turnover would decrease, too.
See next week’s issue of the Item-
izer-Observer to take a look at more
on the economy.
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