Ambassador Program draws attention to the benefits of OEM professions 

Fort Wayne, Ind., November 29, 2023 — Enterprise Health, a leading provider of occupational and employee health software, has renewed its sponsorship of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s (ACOEM) Ambassador Program for 2024. The program seeks to increase awareness of occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) among medical and advanced practice provider (APP) students and residents and to provide opportunities for real-world experiences in OEM for interested trainees.

“This sponsorship enables us to accelerate the Ambassador Program, and the funding helps us reach and attract more young people to our profession,” said ACOEM chief executive officer Craig Sondalle.
 
Demand for occupational health physicians is high — with 50 jobs for every graduating resident — and ACOEM has identified a lack of awareness of the specialty as a contributor to the shortage. The Ambassador Program is led by a group of occupational health professionals who recruit others in the specialty to volunteer as ambassadors and present at lunch and learns at medical and physician assistant schools throughout the U.S. The presentations introduce attendees to the specialty and its benefits which include high satisfaction and low burnout rates, and provide information on common work environments such as hospitals and health systems, colleges and universities, the public sector, sports and entertainment, and a wide variety of corporate and manufacturing settings. 
 
“We became aware of the need to elevate the visibility of occupational health as a profession through discussions with many of our clients,” said Jeff Donnell, president of Enterprise Health. “Many of them have shared their stories with us about how they happened to end up in their profession, and it’s interesting to note that few of them set out to be an occ health physician or nurse at the onset. In fact, most of them didn’t even know it was an option, but once they discovered the opportunity, they just knew it was the right choice for them.”
 
As part of the year-long sponsorship, Enterprise Health helps fund the program’s lunch and learn events and promotional materials. The company also produces a podcast called OccTok featuring occupational health professionals who share their stories about how they ended up in the specialty, why the field is interesting and what advice they have to others considering an occ health career.