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Facing a critical shortage of health workers in rural Oregon, Sky Lakes launched a network of programs to train the next generation right here at home. A new Career and Technical Education campus opened in 2024, and the Health Occupations program now reaches five high schools. Students gain hands-on hospital experience and 31% of program ambassadors find health care employment directly after completing it.
Adam Randall has lived and worked across Oregon. As assistant principal for curriculum and career education at Klamath Union High School, he says he has never seen anything quite like what is happening in Klamath Falls.
“I have never met anyone from industry like the leadership team at Sky Lakes, who is implementing a vision their employees buy into and execute every day,” Randall says.
“The play structure gets people outdoors — especially kids — and hopefully off phones and video games and doing something outside,” says Willrett, now director of Public Works at City of Klamath Falls.
Randall describes the program as a pipeline. High school students take medical terminology classes for college credit, then rotate through up to 35 Sky Lakes departments. Strong performers can apply for a paid Ambassador position as an actual hospital employee while still in school. Sky Lakes then helps fund their path toward nursing, medical assisting, or other healthcare careers.
The results go beyond résumés. Randall talks about interviewing a group of young women — many tribal members, most the first in their families to pursue higher education — for the program that morning.
“This is the first time some of their families legitimately have hope,” Randall says. “A light at the end of the tunnel. A job to aspire to that they can achieve. That’s all because of Sky Lakes.”
How Can You Get Involved?
Help the Klamath Basin continue to rise by getting involved in community programs. Whether your passions lie in food, play, art, wellness, careers for the future, or lifelong health, you can help.
