Healthcare Workforce Partnership Fall 2026
Interprofessional Viewing of the “To Err is Human” Documentary
Date (IN-PERSON): Wednesday, October 7, 2026 at 5:00–7:00 PM
Date (REMOTE): Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at 5:00–7:00 PM
Your program or facility is invited to participate in the Interprofessional Viewing of the “To Err is Human” Documentary. Sessions are scheduled on the evenings of October 7th (in person) / October 21st (remote). Multiple sessions are planned to accommodate all participants from all interested programs and facilities. In order to create interprofessional groups, we request that programs and facilities divide attendees across the two sessions, if possible. There will be a separate breakout session for practitioners.
The purpose of this activity is to bring together healthcare practitioners, students, and professionals from multiple disciplines to view and discuss the documentary To Err is Human in an interprofessional setting. Through this shared experience, participants will deepen their awareness of the prevalence and impact of medical errors, explore strategies to improve patient safety, and strengthen skills essential for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice—such as mutual respect, understanding of roles, effective communication, and teamwork—to enhance patient outcomes and healthcare quality.
Flyer (in-person at Holyoke Community College) | Register
Flyer (remote connect via Zoom) | Register
PV-IPEC IPE Health Fair at Baystate Place (Beacon Communities)
Dates: TBD
The Health Promotions Fair at Baystate Place encourages students to translate classroom learning into practical community education while strengthening communication and health promotion skills. The event provides an interprofessional community engagement opportunity for students to educate community members on a variety of public health and healthcare topics through poster presentations, discussion, and health screenings. Nursing, occupational therapy, dental assistant, nutrition, pharmacy, and other health science students provides an array of services including: health education, assessments and evaluation.
Contact Peta-Gaye Johnson pjohnson@masshirehcwb.com
Medical Apartheid Program Fall 2026
Dates: TBD
This program provides an opportunity to examine the historical context of medical experimentation, structural racism in healthcare, and ethical violations in medical research. It explores how these practices have contributed to longstanding health inequities and continue to influence patient trust, healthcare experiences, and health outcomes today. The discussion also encourages participants to reflect on their role as current and future healthcare professionals in fostering trust, advancing health equity, upholding ethical standards, and delivering patient-centered care.
Contact Peta-Gaye Johnson pjohnson@masshirehcwb.com
Spring 2027
Medical Apartheid Program Spring 2027
Dates: TBD
This program provides an opportunity to examine the historical context of medical experimentation, structural racism in healthcare, and ethical violations in medical research. It explores how these practices have contributed to longstanding health inequities and continue to influence patient trust, healthcare experiences, and health outcomes today. The discussion also encourages participants to reflect on their role as current and future healthcare professionals in fostering trust, advancing health equity, upholding ethical standards, and delivering patient-centered care.
Contact Peta-Gaye Johnson pjohnson@masshirehcwb.com
Interprofessional Patient Simulation Experience
* each student group is distributed across all four sessions
- Tuesday, February 2, 2027 – Remote – 7:00 – 9:00 PM
- Wednesday, February 3, 2027 – Remote – 5:00 – 7:00 PM
- Tuesday, February 9, 2027 – Remote – 7:00 – 9:00 PM
- Wednesday, February 10, 2027 – Remote – 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Interprofessional teams of students will review an ambulatory patient case collaboratively and strategize the roles for each profession. Students will interact remotely (similar to a telehealth encounter) with a standardized patient to gather information based on their professional roles. Students will then develop a team-based care plan and deliver to the patient and participate in a debrief discussion to review the advantages and challenges of team-based decision making in patient care.
*One faculty facilitator is needed per every 8 students attending
Aphasia Virtual IPE Program
Date: TBD
Interdisciplinary groups of students will engage in guided discussions, facilitated by SLP students. SLP students will have read Dr. Meyerson’s powerful book, Identity Theft, co-authored with her son, Danny Zuckerman, which addresses the understudied emotional and identity aspects of recovery and rebuilding a life post-stroke. Identity Theft centers on Meyerson’s experience, but also draws on her skills as a social scientist to incorporate stories from several dozen fellow survivors, family members, friends, colleagues, therapists, and doctors she has interviewed. Grounded in this diversity of experience and Dr. Meyerson’s expertise as an identity scholar, Identity Theft provides a window into recovery of extraordinary value to interdisciplinary professionals. The program will culminate with a presentation from Dr. Meyerson and her husband Steve Zuckerman.
Participation by invite only.
PV IPEC Interprofessional Poverty Simulation
Date: TBD
Location: Springfield Technical Community College
Could you survive a month in poverty?
The Poverty Simulation provides participants with the opportunity to assume the role of a low-income family member living on a limited budget. The experience is divided into four 15-minute sessions, each of which represents one week in which you must provide for your family and maintain your home. As one participant commented, “This poverty simulation dramatically demonstrates how much time and energy many families have to give just to survive from day to day. It quickly dispels the myth “that people would do fine if they would only go out and get a job!”
Ambulatory Care Simulation
Date: TBD
The complexity of healthcare in the United States has increased the need for health professionals to work together and create new models of team-based care. In order to prepare health profession students for collaborative practice, accreditors of health professions academic programs are requiring the inclusion of interprofessional education. Students from medicine, physician assistant studies, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work and others under the leadership of PV-IPEC work together in activities designed to target the IPEC Core Comps (Teamwork, Roles and Responsibilities, Values/Ethics, and Interprofessional Communication). Interprofessional education is defined as occurring when students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.
REB - REGIONAL EMPLOYMENT BOARD OF HAMPDEN COUNTRY, INC.