Employees at Baltimore's Sinai and Good Samaritan hospitals recently completed a 15-week Pre-Allied Health Bridge program designed to put participants on the path to a career in health care.

Created by the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (BACH) to address the city's critical shortage of health care workers, Bridge provides remediation in math, reading and writing skills for selected hospital employees prior to taking on college-level work.

"The success of the program speaks for itself, said BACH Coordinator Melissa Tillett. On average, students at Sinai raised their reading level more than 2.5 grades. Similarly, participants from Good Samaritan increased 2.2 grade levels.

Career coaches are a key ingredient of the initiative's successful mix of class work and mentoring, Tillett says. "They are the cheerleaders... the ones who work one-on-one with students to help them navigate academic and career challenges." She believes the hospitals' top-down investment in the program also contributes significantly to its success.

BACH's Bridge program began last fall as a pilot with Sinai Hospital. And in January Good Samaritan was added. Instruction was provided on-site by Baltimore City Community College and tailored to the needs of each hospital. Students went through a selection and testing process before being accepted into the program. Both hospitals plan to continue with the initiative.

Ronald Hearn, BACH's executive director, hopes to add three more hospitals this year. The optimum outcome, he said, is to connect unemployed city residents to the program.