Dallas College and advanced healthcare technology company, Gainwell Technologies, have received more than a million dollars in grants to provide advanced training to current and future employees. The two received the grants at Gainwell's office in Irving this week.
"A partnership like this is so profound," says Gainwell Technologies Chief Technology Officer Jacob Sims. "It arms us with the skills and capabilities we need to deploy technology in a broad scale to benefit our nation's most vulnerable population."
"These are the types of partners we love to have," says Dallas College's Justin Cunningham. "We love to work with companies that are trying new things and advancing technology."
The Texas Workforce Commission is providing $468,309 from its "Skills Development Fund;" the U.S. Department of Labor is providing a $576,960 "Federal Innovative Strategies" grant.
The Labor Department says the grant can help provide a more skilled workforce which in turn strengthens the economy.
"People can upskill to meet today's demands for employers," says the Department of Labor's Dudley Light. "The better the workforce training we're able to provide, the better growth we'll have in the state, so it benefits everybody."
Light says the grant can provide training for future employees but also help those already in the workforce learn the latest technologies.
"If you quit training five years ago, you're outdated," he says. "You're not employable anymore in the IT field because technology is moving at such a rapid pace."
Gainwell Technologies' Sims says the use of electronic medical records can help hospitals and clinics run more efficiently. The company also works with Medicaid.
"Everything from applying artificial intelligence to provide better prescription programs to identifying fraud and reducing waste in the system, these skills and the partnership with Dallas College provide immense benefits that benefit so many Americans," Sims says.
Sims says the grant can provide education on health and human services programming, increasing people's skills in using IT systems. He says Gainwell and Dallas College can work together to improve the ability to track a patient's history, medications and environmental factors.
"Technology is unlocking a lot of that data and our ability to apply that in a meaningful way," he says. "It's very difficult to do that for one human being. Now imagine doing that for millions upon millions upon millions who have diverse situations, diverse backgrounds and diverse needs."
Dallas College says the grants will be used to provide 16,000 hours of technology training for at least 240 people.
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