WSCC Humankind Series to discuss future of work in healthcare

WSCC Humankind Series to discuss future of work in healthcare

WSCC News is a presentation of West Shore Community College in partnership with Mason County Press.

VICTORY TOWNSHIP — The next installment of the West Shore Community College Humankind Series will be “The Future of Work in Healthcare” on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 3:30 p.m. via Zoom. The event is accessible here.
This year’s Humankind Series theme is The Future of Work and the question, “What is the future of work?” Representative topics include “the great resignation,” quiet quitting, remote work, work/life balance, shortening the work week, full time vs. part time work, and so on.
During this event, a panel of local healthcare professionals will discuss upcoming trends pertaining to the future of work in healthcare. The panelists for this event will be the following:

• Meleah Mariani, chief nursing officer for Corewell Health Ludington Hospital. Mariani has been a nurse for 37 years and received a doctorate in nursing practice from Baylor University. She also holds certifications as a nurse executive from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and as a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. She will share about recent trends in healthcare and the future specifically of nursing in our area.
• Jacob Martig, senior epic consultant. Martig works remotely from two home bases in Ohio and Florida. As an epic consultant, he works on projects at the forefront of major healthcare trends: virtual health, electronic health record (EHR) access, and patient’s use of technology to be involved in their own care. He will share how technology and use of the EHR will continue to impact jobs in healthcare, and the implications of working remotely in the healthcare sector.
• Rebecca Valko, nurse Leader (CNL) at Trinity Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids. As a CNL, Valko analyzes patient outcomes and implements evidence-based care to improve patient safety and nursing processes on her unit. She will share with us the importance of the role of the CNL in response to recent changes in healthcare, and how the future of the hospitalized patient is likely to impact the profession of nursing.
• Dan Yost, paramedic, director of EMS and fire at West Shore Community College. With his extensive paramedic experience, Yost has seen how healthcare is changing and the impacts this has on both patients and the healthcare system overall. He will bring his thoughts on the future of working in healthcare from the EMS perspective.

“There have been so many significant changes to healthcare in recent years–from the implications of the Covid pandemic, to the growing use of technology and virtual appointments, to overall changes in our patient populations– it’s really important we consider the impact of these changes on the future of working in healthcare,” said Megan Sponhauer, WSCC associate professor of nursing and moderator for this event. “These healthcare professionals will deepen our understanding of where healthcare might be headed in the future and how these changes will impact us. This panel will be of special interest to those who work in healthcare or hope to do so in the future, as well as to consumers of healthcare and those of us who rely on medicine in our everyday lives. We all need to know what to expect as we learn to navigate a future that might look significantly different than what we’re used to.”

A recording of the event will be made available on the college’s YouTube page.
Humankind is WSCC’s arts and culture lecture series. The series consists of lectures, presentations, workshops, art exhibitions, film series, and much more. For more information about Humankind, please visit westshore.edu or contact Dr. Matt Sanderson at mwsanderson@westshore.edu or 231-843-5937.