DoD, INOVA Partner To Employ Military Spouse

The Department of Defense and Inova Health System joined in a partnership yesterday to promote access to training and healthcare jobs for the husbands and wives of active duty service members.

Inova, a not-for-profit health care system based in Northern Virginia, employs more than 15,000 people in hospitals, nursing homes, emergency and urgent care centers in the area.

We have a national shortage of allied health professionals across the countries, and we have spouses looking for positive, portable careers" said Leslye Arsht, deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy. "Inova health services is making a concrete commitment to military spouses who are interested in the allied health field."

The public-private partnership is a pilot program designed to benefit both parties. Inova seeks to attract and develop military spouses into careers in critical healthcare occupations. The partnership is also designed to support military spouses currently in the healthcare and nursing professions who might not otherwise remain in those jobs while their spouse is in the military. Today's military spouses represent a significant, young, diverse and well-educated component of America's labor force.

Inova will work with the DoD, community and professional partners to launch a national Military to Medicine program. Education, training and certification and licensure in portable career fields will greatly increase their employment opportunities and reduce the period of time between moves that spouses are unemployed.

If this effort is successful" said Arsht, "then we'll take this method to other hospital systems throughout the country. What we'd really like to see over time, is that if we have a cadre of spouses...we can eventually help them move from one system to another. And that's really part of the effort here...to help spouses choose a successful career that's in high demand and portable to help them connect to the next employer as they move around."

For the 675,000 spouses of active duty service members, careers can be difficult to manage due to the frequency of moves throughout a military career. DoD surveys show 77 percent of spouses reporting they need or want to work.

The Inova partnership with DoD follows a similar agreement between Inova and the U.S. Army Reserve that provides new Army Reserve soldiers opportunities for employment at Inova Health System facilities once they successfully complete military occupational training in areas of critical clinical support. DoD has also entered into a partnership with RE/MAX, the nationwide reality firm, to provide military spouses with training and licensure for careers in real estate, and with the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA), to promote medical transcription as a mobile career of choice to thousands of military spouses nationwide.

Military spouses who are interested in working in any of the Inova Health System facilities in the Northern Virginia area, or have experience in the health care or allied health fields, are invited to visit Inova's Web site at www.inova.org/careers and apply for the position(s) that are of interest.

Once they have applied, they can expect to receive an email confirmation. Should any questions arise, military spouses are encouraged to send an email to: HRIS@inova.org. This email address has been created specifically for military spouses to address questions or concerns, and will be checked daily by Inova Health System human resources staff dedicated to military spouse recruitment.