State launches portal to connect health workers with jobs

COLORADO (KRDO) -- In an effort to create a stronger public health workforce, Colorado is launching a new career pathway program on the My Colorado Journey platform.

The new pathways aim at connecting people to jobs in three different fields: public health, environmental health, and administration. The state says they can lead to opportunities in more than 100 occupations.

"I think that the COVID-19 pandemic has really highlighted the value of the public health field," said Jill Ryan, Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "The public health field really had to massively scale up. We needed epidemiologists, we needed contract tracers, we needed cultural navigators."

Ryan said, now, they're looking ahead.

"We know the public health workforce of the future is going to have to be bigger and help us prepare for the next public health emergency," she explained during an interview with KRDO Tuesday.

We'll have more information on this program and how it's helping people in Colorado tonight at four and five on KRDO NewsChannel 13.