Heather Brace is a staunch believer in learning as a springboard to success.

“Education changes lives,” said Brace, senior vice president and people officer for Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health. “It’s actually how I’m here today. And education doesn’t have to be a college degree. It can involve partnerships among community colleges and technical institutions across the state.”

Brace was among the speakers at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Intercity Visit on Oct. 6-8 in Salt Lake City, serving on a panel discussion with Daniel Dewitt, assistant director for employer engagement and internships at Salt Lake Community College, and Jimmy McDonough, assistant commissioner of education workforce programs for Talent Ready Utah.

Intermountain Health is the largest nonprofit health system in the Intermountain West, serving patients and communities in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming.

Intermountain Health last year spent $25 million in education support programs such as “Earn and Learn,” which allows to attain better careers while on the job, Brace said.

“About 60% of those employees take part in that make under $55,000,” Brace said. “So, the opportunity that we have to change the entire trajectory of their life and their families’ lives is really key.”

Talent Ready Utah also is an excellent resource for the workforce.

Beginning as an initiative of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity in 2015, Talent Ready Utah seven years later joined the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

Every initiative that Talent Ready undertakes is measured by enrollment, completion and placement, McDonough said.

“We say that every program needs to be a win, win, win,” McDonough said. “It needs to be a win for industry. It needs to be a win for the institution, and it also needs to be a win for the state.”

All the panelists agreed that to meet workforce demand, licensing for some jobs needs to be relaxed.

“It takes 18 months to train an OR (operating room) tech,” Brace said. “It actually takes 17 years to train a surgeon. Primary care providers are becoming harder and harder to recruit. Why? The salary of those jobs is small compared to other providers. It’s not as attractive as becoming a neurosurgeon, but a neurosurgeon takes 17 years to put into place.

“So, we’re going to have a challenge what it means to be educated. Certainly, we want people to be skilled and proficient before they start treating patients. But we’re going to have to push education and how can it be done faster.”

This article covered programming from the Tulsa Regional Chamber Intercity Visit to Salt Lake City. Each, fall, the Chamber leads a three-day Intercity Visit during which leaders learn how other regions approach growth and learning challenges. Topics often include development, infrastructure and workforce.

Click here to view takeaways from previous visits.