Titans Of The Toll Road Discussion Focuses On NoVA Healthcare System

HERNDON, VA — COVID-19 exposed major weaknesses in Northern Virginia's healthcare system, which have led to many medical professionals leaving the industry and creating a workforce shortage, according to a Thursday morning panel discussion at the Trajectory Event Center in Herndon.

"We are in every aspect short-staffed," said Dr. Bill Hazel Jr., the former Virginia secretary of health and human services and senior deputy executive director of the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation.

Hazel was moderating a discussion focused on healthcare workforce development, as part of the latest installment in the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce's Titans of the Toll Road series.

"When we think about what's on 'Grey's Anatomy,' it's doctors and nurses mostly, and maybe our techs," he said. "What we don't realize is it's ultrasound techs. It's clinical lab techs. It's the EMTs or the social worker in the community that goes out to speak to the family in crisis. In every single place, we're seeing shortages."

When the COVID-19 outbreak began, the region was already facing a major nursing shortage, according to Dr. Shelly Powers, provost of the Medical Education Campus of Northern Virginia Community College in Springfield.

The only way to meet the ongoing demand for nurses and other healthcare professionals is to focus on "stackable credentials," according to Powers.

"We want to make sure that individuals starting out as certified nursing assistants, that they have the opportunity to progress through the system, to really expand their economic stability as well, by going through those various stackable credentials," she said.

NVCC has already implemented an LPN to RN program that allows nurses to build on their expertise or "stack their credentials" to continue contributing to the workforce, according to Powers.

There needed to be a pipeline of critical thinkers to enable the future healthcare workforce, according to Lisa Steeves, the senior director of staff development at VHC Health in Arlington. Parents need to be encouraging their children, middle schoolers and younger, to consider careers in healthcare, which is a STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] path.

"We partner with our local universities to figure out how we can onboard these staff members faster and make sure that the competencies that we need in our organizations, whether they're teaching them in their schools," Steeves said.

Dr. Caroline Sutter, co-director at Mason and Partners and an associate professor of nursing at George Mason University, said technology to improve healthsystems' communications and decision making are crucial to enabling the region's workforce.

"How can we use technology to support our training?" she asked the chamber members in the audience who worked for technology companies. "Rather than have to memorize things, what tools and resources should we be seeking out?"

Thursday's discussion was the third installment of Titans of the Toll Road series, which is sponsored by the Reston Chamber's Innovation Council.

"We launched the Titans of the Toll Road concept a year ago," said Charles Kapur, president and CEO of the Reston Chamber. "The idea was to highlight the great business organizations that are here in Fairfax County around the Dulles Corridor that are doing innovative things to support the regional economy, that are promoting progressive technologies, and innovative business practices."

Later in the morning, a second panel discussion focused on healthcare innovation and technology. Panelists included Dr. Carnell Cooper, the chief medical officer at Reston Hospital Center; Dr. Maruf Haider, the chief informatics officer at Inova Fairfax Hospital; and Jeanine Mater, vice president of consumer experience at Kaiser Permanente. PJ Kennedy, the senior director of new markets and emerging technologies at Leidos, served as moderator.

Ken Traenkle is the cofounder and a principal at Verity Commercial, which is one of the companies sponsoring the Titans of Technology series.

"We're blessed," he said, when asked what Titans of Technology meant from a business perspective. "The economy is so robust. There are so many young, highly educated professionals that just keep things going. Aside from that, we also have the major corporations that are putting their flag into the ground here and saying, 'This is going to be our second headquarters or technology center.' Then as an added benefit, we have the government. DoD supports a lot that's going on here."

In addition to Verity Commercial, the other members of the Reston Chamber's Innovation Council are ANA*LITK, Google, M&T Bank, Microsoft, MainStreetBank, Northwest Federal Credit Union, and Verity Commercial.

The following businesses and organizations partnered with the Reston Chamber to sponsor Thursday's discussion: MillerMusmar, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, Boston Properties, Newmark, City National Bank, USGIF, and Northern Virginia Community College.