Harriott Community Healthcare Academy (HCHA) is an educational program created to address healthcare workforce shortages, empower communities, and improve health outcomes across Connecticut. We aim to meet these objectives in a way that is sustainable and accessible.
The Pathway
HCHA is a centralized nursing education hub which allows students to obtain everything they need to start a career in healthcare in one location. Our nursing pathway includes:
Empowering through Education
We are focused on lifting up our students as individuals. From time management skills to identifying mental health support needs, we want to ensure that when our students graduate that they have all that they need to succeed in the workforce long-term.
The goal of Harriott Community Healthcare Academy (HCHA) is to create a place where residents can obtain nursing education and certification testing through Prometric, find career counseling and support for additional education, and become part of a sustainable pipeline to enter the healthcare workforce and care for their community. Our curriculum includes:
A Certified Nursing Assistant Education and Certification Pathway: This state-approved certificate program equips individuals with the essential skills needed for entry-level healthcare positions. The goal of this program is to address critical nursing shortages, which disproportionately impact communities whose access to quality healthcare is already limited due to factors such as high crime rates, geographic isolation, or low socio-economic levels.
An After-School and Summer School Nursing Pathway for High School Students: HCHA recognizes the importance of early intervention for young adults, particularly those in underserved communities and those impacted by gun violence. To address this need, HCHA is partnering with local school districts and nonprofits to provide an after-school and summer nursing pathway for students ages 16 and older who live in high-risk neighborhoods, offering a potentially transformative pathway into the healthcare field. These students will be able to graduate high school with the certification they need to get started in a promising career right away.
CPR Training and Certification: With more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occurring outside of the hospital each year, our CPR training will equip residents and students with the life-saving skills to help improve overall health outcomes. The American Heart Association reports that only 40.2% of out of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) receive the bystander CPR needed to improve chances of survival. Our goal is to increase these numbers in our state and help save lives.