Mike Abrams is president and CEO of the Ohio Hospital Association.
For the first time in our 109-year history, the Ohio Hospital Association will participate in the Ohio State Fair to promote healthy living and careers in health care.
Historically, we share common roots with the fair.
First held in 1850 near the site of Ohio’s first hospital in Cincinnati, the fair has exclusively called Columbus home for the past 150 years.
The Ohio Hospital Association has long operated out of Ohio’s capital.
Both have grown tremendously from humble beginnings, with record-breaking attendance of more than 1 million at the fair in 2023 and Ohio hospitals hitting a new high mark with nearly 38 million patient encounters this past year.
Our collaboration is a long time coming. But why now, and what do we hope to accomplish?
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Ohioans have a lot to learn about the future of healthcare
According to America’s Health Rankings, Ohio sits among the seven states with the highest percentage of adults with three or more chronic health conditions (14.6%).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite chronic physical and mental health conditions as the leading driver of health care costs in the country, accounting for 90% of the nation’s $4.5 trillion in annual health care expenditures.
The average annual direct health care cost for a patient with a chronic disease is about five times more than a person without one.
The Ohio Hospital Association’s Healthy Initiatives HUB, located in the fair’s popular Lausche Youth Exploration Space, aims to promote workforce and wellness. In collaboration with the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association and staffed by Ohio hospital workers, the interactive exhibit will provide fairgoers with information about the importance of nutrition and the numerous career opportunities in health care.
As Ohio native and inventor Thomas Edison said, “The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.”
Ohio is aging and news more health workers
Healthcare workers of the future are exactly what the hospital community needs as it faces a sweeping workforce shortage. As of July 1, OhioMeansJobs listed over 22,000 job openings across the state for nursing positions alone.
The number of Ohioans entering the prime age range for healthcare needs (age 60-90) continues to increase significantly faster than the number of young people (age 18-25) entering the workforce.
If we are to meet the health care needs of our communities, improve health outcomes and rein in health care costs, we must ensure we have caregivers providing essential services in all fields.
Hospitals employ not only doctors and nurses, but thousands of other professionals, including information technology, facility management, radiation technologists, dietary, respiratory therapists and many others. Many jobs in hospitals do not require a bachelor’s degree and are available to those with a high school diploma or an associate’s degree.
Hospitals across Ohio are establishing workforce initiatives and high school internships to plant seeds for new generations of hospital workers.
At the fair, the Ohio Hospital Association will showcase health care careers to the next wave of potential caregivers, and we want them to have fun in the process.
Inspiring the next generation to join
As a participant in the Lausche Building Career Pathways Program, we will profile two respiratory therapists working in Ohio hospitals. The HUB will also promote the top 10 in-demand health care jobs in Ohio.
Ohio is the mother state of innovation. We need to deploy that innate gift to confront our state’s health challenges and their consequences.
The Ohio Hospital Association is thrilled to be a part of this year’s state fair, where we seek to inspire innovation that furthers our mission of ensuring a healthy Ohio while reducing the economic impact of chronic diseases across the state.
Mike Abrams is president and CEO of the Ohio Hospital Association.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Alarming number of Ohioans have chronic illnesses. Health workers needed.
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