CLEVELAND, Ohio — Three years ago, Robert Cade was in barber school.
He said he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do career-wise, when someone told him about a program called “Step Up to UH” — UH stands for University Hospitals.
- An employment program in the Greater Cleveland area is helping a major institution invest in their community
- The program recruits people from neighborhoods surrounding the hospital and gets them in the door, introduces them to different careers in healthcare, then helps them climb the ladder
- 314 people have been hired through the Step Up to UH program since it began six years ago
The program recruits people from neighborhoods surrounding the hospital and gets them in the door — introducing them to different careers in healthcare —then helps them climb up the ladder.
“It never crossed my mind. I never thought about it until I actually started l working here at the hospital and just being around the environment,” said Robert Cade, division secretary, University Hospitals.
Cade came on board as a chef in the cafeteria and was then promoted to division secretary at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. This position gave him more clarity on what he wanted to do.
“Right now, I’m in nursing school and I just recently got a promotion ...I'll be a PCNA on Learner 5, it’s a cardiac floor, and I'm real excited about it,” said Cade.
Cade says he’s looking forward to the hands-on experience working on a cardiac floor.
“Last year around this time, I actually had a heart attack. So, I'm doing a lot better now and that's why I got a personal connection with the floor and that's why I'm just so grateful to get the position that I got,” said Cade.
Cade is just one of hundreds of people from the community who got their start in the health care industry through Step Up to UH.
“Our mission has always been to be a strong influence in the community and the patients that we serve. And there's no better way to represent that than to have the staff who works for us to be from that community,” said Adrianne Shaad, Step Up to UH.
Adrianne Shaad works with Step Up to UH members every day. She says the program has a ripple effect.
“Finding them sustainable employment with these major institutions gives them that sustainable living wage, which then goes back into the community and increases the economic impact that we have on a community,” said Shaad.
Cade says for him, this is more than just a job.
“Through the program, they basically like teach you how to develop your career, and I think going through that program definitely helped me develop what I wanted to do with my career and what path I wanted to take. It just really helped me, and I'm just more than grateful,” said Cade.
Cade is attending nursing school at Cuyahoga Community College and hopes to be a pediatric or cardiac nurse.
314 people have been hired through the Step Up to UH program since it began six years ago.