AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – UMass Amherst hosted a gathering of healthcare professionals, educators, and administrators Thursday morning to address the current state and future of the industry in western Massachusetts.
This was the second healthcare improvement forum held on campus in as many days underscoring UMass’ role in training the state’s healthcare workforce as a whole and their dedication to improving policy to benefit western Massachusetts.
The event was a gathering of the Western Massachusetts Healthcare Summit bringing together state lawmakers, professionals, administrators, and educators to discuss how everyone can work together to improve our local healthcare industry.
22News asked UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes about why it is important to him that gatherings like this happen at the Flagship UMass Campus, “We are a land grant university that is how we were founded. So we have to be that advocate for the needs of the state for education but also for economic development.”
Getting all these stakeholders from all over the state together in one room made for productive brainstorming and problem-solving from the outset of the summit. They are taking on issues like understaffing, under-employment, and redundant education.
The event featured four discussion panels focusing on training and education, access and feasibility policy, and recruitment and retention.
Duncan MacLean is a reporter who has been a part of the 22News team since 2019. Follow Duncan on X @DMacLeanWWLP and view his bio to see more of his work.
