Dear friends and neighbors,
As vice chair of the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee, I’m excited about the work we’re doing to expand access to college and career training and respond to workforce demands and shortages.
I recently attended the launch of a new regional health sciences campus in Poulsbo, a joint effort between Olympic College, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and many other partners. I’ve supported health care worker training for many years — in 2019, my bill (the “Workforce Education Investment Act,” HB 2158) funded nurse educator faculty positions across our community college system. This turned out to be a great investment: we’re finally able to hire a full cohort of nursing faculty so we can admit more students into the Olympic College nursing program.
Health care facilities in our region continue to face challenges filling positions. In February, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security published a study of health care services throughout Kitsap County. The study notes “Kitsap County does not have a sufficient health workforce to meet the health care needs of the community, especially within the fields of primary care, behavioral and mental health, pediatrics, sexual health and reproductive care.” Researchers recommended, among other things, prioritizing the recruitment of new health care workers.
Olympic College is working to do just that by making it easier for students to get the training needed for these good-paying jobs. OC recently began consolidating its Healthcare Division offerings to a single health care science center on the college’s Poulsbo campus. As part of phase one of this project, OC has begun upgrading the existing P1 Building on the Poulsbo campus to accommodate three of 10 new programs to be developed over the next four years. The new health science programs include dental assisting, dental hygiene, emergency medical technician, paramedic, practical nursing for Navy Corpsmen, phlebotomy, radiology technician, respiratory technician, surgical technician and ultrasound technician.
As part of phase two, the college will focus on the development of a new health sciences building that expands classroom and lab space. It will include a primary care clinic, innovative learning spaces and offices. Once the project is finished, more than 600 students will be able to enroll at the Poulsbo Health Sciences Campus each year, significantly increasing the number of highly skilled people entering the workforce.
I also have exciting news about Western Washington University’s plans to expand in Kitsap County. We started talking with Western several years ago about further expanding their degree programs on the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas. This summer, Western Washington University is working on plans for a new building on the Olympic College-Poulsbo campus, which will serve as a hub for WWU’s degree programs.
This builds on our work in previous years to support “Western on the Peninsulas.” Last year, the Legislature approved funding for expanded programming, creating new degree programs in partnership with Olympic and Peninsula colleges in industrial and systems engineering, data science and sociology. Western also launched a new Master of Social Work degree program, which will help us meet our local needs for drug treatment counselors and mental health professionals.
These are all exciting opportunities for families in our area: you can get trained to be a nurse, an EMT, a dental hygienist, an engineer, a data scientist, a social worker and more — all while staying right here in Kitsap County. I’m so grateful to our partners at Olympic College and Western Washington University for working with us to open up these amazing opportunities!
REMINDER: We have two opportunities for you to meet with me and Reps. Tarra Simmons and Greg Nance this Saturday, April 13.
➡️10 a.m. at Olympic College Poulsbo, OCP P1 (1000 NW Olympic College Way, Poulsbo, WA)
➡️1 p.m. at Olympic College Bremerton, Bremer Student Center (1600 Chester Ave., Bremerton, WA)
Bring any questions or concerns you have about the work we’re doing in Olympia. I can’t wait to see you there!
Please feel free to come to our town halls this Saturday and ask questions about our work or whatever else is on your mind, and don’t hesitate to reach out to my office by calling 360-786-7644 or emailing Drew.Hansen@leg.wa.gov.
Sincerely,
