Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues now at 8.39 and I'm joined by Kim Laqua from UR Medicine Finger Lakes Health here in studio with us. Good morning, Kim. How are you?
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: Good morning, Paul. How are you?
Paul Szmal: Doing well. Doing well. Very excited today to be able to announce that we have Kara Silkowitz with us. Kara is our Talent Acquisition Supervisor and she's going to be talking about employment opportunities that we have at Finger Lakes Health and I also just want to mention that we want to be your employer of choice. We have been recognized as one of the top 150 workplaces in healthcare by Becker's and then also we were named last year as one of the best and brightest companies to work for in New York State as well as the nation and we were recognized by Newsweek as America's greatest workplaces for mental well-being. So Kara's got a lot of information to talk about great opportunities that we have for people to come join our team and it's a really great place to work so we are very excited to introduce Kara. Yes, Kara. Good morning. How are you this morning?
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: Good morning. How are you doing?
Paul Szmal: I'm doing great. How did how do you come to be a part of the Finger Lakes Health family?
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: So I joined the team about four years ago. I joined the recruitment team so I'm overseeing recruitment there and I specifically recruit for nurses.
Paul Szmal: Ah, and I know there's always a need for nurses.
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: Absolutely. Tell me a little bit more about the nursing career options that are available.
Paul Szmal: Wonderful. So I have quite a few opportunities I want to talk about today and go over. So one of the newest things we actually introduced to RNs working in the ICU, the emergency department or in our RN float pool, we actually have created the opportunity for them to work 36 hours. So that's three 12s but actually get paid for 40 hours. So that's a really great opportunity right there. The other thing I want to mention that's that's kind of big is new grad residency programs. So we've always offered some new grad residency programs for nurses who have just graduated. It's a full year program where we kind of we kind of cradle these new grads and we have a huge support system for their first year is a brand new RN at our health facility. While we've always had a new grad residency, we kind of recognized a need to introduce a critical care residency for those RNs interested in going to the ICU and focusing on critical care because it's kind of a unique type of setting. So we're introducing that this year for new grads. So anybody interested in ICU, we have a specific RN critical care residency for them. And of course, we're still offering the residency program we've always offered. That program actually will pick up on August 5th. And then the other thing I wanted to talk about is our long term care skilled nursing facilities. So any nurses, new grad LPNs, we accept them right now working under a limited permit. The other opportunity for long term care skilled nursing facilities is we're actually able to pay for some tuitions in full if they want to become RNs. We're also able to pay for their prerequisites in full if they need to attend a college to obtain either their RN or anything else they might need to become an LPN if their CNAs. So we have that full coverage tuition and prerequisites. And one of the things that we're able to do is we can really start a career path with our employees just as they start with us. One of the things we offer is we offer CNA training. So we offer CNA training seven times a year. It's paid training. Our CNAs, they go through a four week course. By the end of it, they're certified and then they're working at our long term care skilled nursing facilities either in Geneva, Panyan, or Waterloo. And they always have the opportunity to grow in their career because we're able to pay for their tuitions. We're able to pay for the prerequisites. We have a College of Nursing on site, an RN program, Finger Lakes Health College of Nursing two year program. And then we have Marion S. Whalen, our LPN program, which is a 10 month program. And we can help our CNAs get to where they need to go or our LPNs get to where they need to go within the College of Nursing there by paying for it. And then for employees, you know, any employee who is interested in continuing their education, we offer tuition assistance too. Anybody interested in, you know, getting into our nursing school, we're able to cover tuition 100% up to $5,250 per calendar year. The other thing is RNs in New York, they have to get their BS on in 10 years. So we're supporting them with that. We are giving them tuition assistance 100% up to $5,250 per calendar year. So that way they're able to achieve that, make the requirement of New York State, but it's not as difficult for them. So there really is a lot to offer.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, there is. And I love how the things tend to morph and change. You were talking about changing and including the ICU residency and things of that nature because the needs that you have changed. So the programs change in accordance with those needs to bring people in and be able to give them the proper education that they need and the training they need to be successful in a career.
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: Absolutely correct. Yes, we're very happy to do that. We were very excited to announce that critical care residency. And what else is on the employment horizon beyond that or where are we focusing specifically on nursing today?
Paul Szmal: Oh no, there's a lot of opportunity. Pretty much there's a place at Finger Lakes Health for anybody. You know, I have no clinical background, could never ever work as a nurse and I'm in human resources as a recruiter. So you know, the same could be said for a lot of other positions. One of the things I always like to talk about is I always like to talk about nutritional services. I always like to talk about housekeeping. Nutritional services, why I like to focus on that is because there's a lot of high schoolers. And you know, if you're 16 and over, you can always work in nutritional services. And anybody looking for a career in healthcare, maybe they don't even know what they want to do when they're these high schoolers. That is really going to help lead them into the right direction. Because our nutritional services, it's not like a typical restaurant or food and beverage position. I mean, they're working with detailed meals that dietitians are creating. They are, you know, around the long-term care staff as they're delivering meals. So it really gives them an opportunity to see what working in healthcare is like. So 16 and over, nutritional services for Geneva General, Soldiers and Salaries Hospital, or Huntington Living Center is a great opportunity. I always mention housekeeping too, because one of the things that's really great about that is the schedule tends to work with a lot of college schedules. So while individuals are trying to obtain a degree wherever it may be, maybe it is in nursing, that's a great opportunity to kind of pick up those evening shifts, maybe pick up per diem. So that's a great opportunity right there.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. It's great that there's not only opportunities for kids coming out of high school, maybe going into college or working during college, but also there's opportunities for adults that might be looking to change careers too.
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: Absolutely. Yes, we do have that available as well. Yeah, we have, you know, anybody interested and maybe they have experience, maybe they want to learn more about it, you know, we have some customer-focused positions. Patient access reps are great positions where they're kind of dealing with individuals, members of our community face-to-face. That's a great opportunity. Yeah, and there's always a need for clerical office staff.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. Like I was saying, patient access, some of our registration, medical secretaries in acute care, unit clerks in long-term care, pretty much we can help you if you are looking for a position.
Paul Szmal: Now, if people are looking to maybe make a career change or they're interested in some of the positions that we've talked about, where can they find more information about that? How do they go about the application process?
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: Absolutely. So, one of the things they can do, they can visit our career page at www.flhealth.org, our career site. The other thing that they can do is they can give us a call, talent acquisition a call. So we can be reached at 315-787-4039.
Paul Szmal: All right, fantastic. Also, as Kara was talking about nurses, I just want to congratulate our 90th graduating class of the Marion S. Whalen School of Practical Nursing. They are graduating Thursday night, so we're very proud of them and just want to give them a shout out.
Kim Ilaqua, Kara Silkiewicz: Yeah, absolutely. Kara, thank you so much. Kim, great to see you as always. Thank you both.
Paul Szmal: Thanks for having us. It is 848 on FLX Morning.
