For students considering a career tied to health care, there may be no better time than the present to pursue that interest.

The need for a fresh influx of workers into health care-related fields is very real. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in health care-related occupations is expected to grow about 16 percent during this decade alone – faster than the average for all other industries surveyed.

Staying true to its ongoing commitment to care for the overall health of its communities, Adena Health System, working in partnership with the Adena Health Foundation, is making several scholarship opportunities available to students across its nine-county region as part of a renewed focus built around the promise of its Hope for Our Future initiative.

“This initiative is designed to help foster the development of the talented young men and women who live throughout our region in the hope that these students will, one day, choose to further their careers at Adena,” said Heather Sprague, Adena’s chief human resources officer and executive sponsor of Hope for Our Future. “It’s about keeping that talent close to home as we fulfill our mission to care for the communities where we live, work and play.”

The nine-county region includes Fayette, Highland, Hocking, Jackson, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton.

The scholarships, which will be awarded on a competitive basis after applications are reviewed by an Adena scholarship committee, are available to students interested in pursuing any course of study tied to the operation of a health system. Besides those jobs on the patient care side such as physicians, advanced practice providers and nurses, that also includes a wide array of support services involved in areas such as accounting, information technology, human resources, legal, marketing and communications, facility maintenance, business development and several others.

The Hope for Our Future scholarship online application and a list of frequently asked questions providing more information are available at Adena.org/scholarships.

Completed online applications must be received by 4 p.m. Friday, April 22.

Submitted by Jason Gilham, communications manager, Adena Health System.