Therapy jobs in high demand

State website shows  health care workers, truck drivers needed.

$Heartland of Springfield's Jean Accurso, (left), a physical therapy assistant, and Diane Jones, a certified occupied therapist assistant, help Christine Paige walk again after she fractured her hip.$

Bill Lackey/Staff photo Heartland of Springfield's Jean Accurso, (left), a physical therapy assistant, and Diane Jones, a certified occupied therapist assistant, help Christine Paige walk again after she fractured her hip.

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By Everdeen Mason, Staff Writer 9:11 PM Sunday, January 8, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — A state-sponsored jobs website lists more than 800 openings locally, many of them related to health care.

About 150 of the postings on OhioMeansJobs.com are for rehabilitation therapy staff, more than any other profession. Jobs related to occupational and physical therapy are in high demand.

“We just filled an occupational therapist position,” said Diane Jones, a certified occupational therapist assistant at Heartland of Springfield skilled nursing center. “It was open for a couple of years before we could fill it ... there’s such a shortage that it’s hard to fill the position.”

Online job postings from employers, job sites and newspaper sites are aggregated onto OhioMeansJobs.com. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is the lead agency for the website and tracks state and local unemployment rates.

Monthly reports are available to analyze the data to see who’s hiring, who’s in demand, what education employers are asking for and what they pay, said Ben Johnson, ODJFS spokesman.

“All of this is in an effort just to better identify the labor market in different parts of the state,” Johnson said.

December’s report is not yet available. The numbers can have some duplication if jobs were listed on more than one website, Johnson added.

In the Dayton area, almost 1,200 job postings were online, the bulk of which were for truck drivers, retail, registered nurses, customer service and physical therapists.

As of Friday, about 800 postings were within a 10-mile radius of Springfield. Here, rehab therapists and nurses lead in the number of postings.

Community Mercy Health Partners is in the top 15 in the Dayton area for job postings. There are almost 50 area listings for CMHP.

“We’re just doing the normal course of hiring,” said Don Austin, CMHP human resources consultant. “We have dozens of nursing opportunities and positions in (occupational, physical, speech) therapies.”

Area nursing homes and assisted living facilities also are looking for rehab therapists. CMHP and Heartland of Springfield, at 2615 Derr Road, both said those are the hardest positions to fill.

Genesis Rehab Services, which owns more than 200 nursing homes, rehab centers and assisted living facilities in the country, also provides staff to places such as Springfield. According to OhioMeansJobs.com, the company has 14 postings locally.

“Nationally, there’s a shortage of clinicians and different states have different disciplines short, depending on the schools in the area,” said Dan Hirschfeld, president of Genesis.

In the Springfield area, there’s a need for occupational therapists and assistants, but a surplus of physical therapist assistants because of programs at local schools, Jones added.

“It’s across the board,” Hirschfeld said. “Therapists, for instance, work anywhere — hospitals, rehab centers, nursing homes, home health and schools — all are facing the shortage.”

Chelsey Levingston contributed to this story. Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or emason@coxohio.com.

Area top jobs

1. Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer, 756 posts

2. Registered nurses, 513

3. Retail salesperson, 375

4. Customer service, 347

5. Physical therapists, 302

Source: OhioMeansJobs.com

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