The closure of Altru’s former hospital in January 2025 aligned perfectly with the needs of the Career Impact Academy, a regional educational hub designed to prepare students for high-demand careers. The Academy is set to open August 28, 2025.
Altru’s Donations
Just a month after Altru transitioned to its new facility, Academy leadership and healthcare instructors had the opportunity to walk through the former hospital, identifying furniture, medical equipment, and other essential items that could be repurposed, at no cost, to outfit the Academy’s future healthcare labs.
Altru, already a major supporter of the Academy with a $1 million donation, was pleased the Academy could use these items.
“These donations are important. They’re direct investments in the region’s future healthcare workforce, supporting hands-on learning, expanding program capacity, and closing critical talent gaps in the medical field,” said Todd Forkel, Altru CEO.
The Career Impact Academy
The Academy is a collaborative initiative driven by local K–12 school districts, post-secondary institutions, private-sector employers, and the wider Grand Forks community. It exists to connect education with opportunity, enabling high school students in grades 10 through 12 to earn their diplomas while also gaining valuable credentials or college credits in high-demand career pathways, including healthcare.
Impact of Gifts
Altru’s donations from the former hospital play a pivotal role in bringing this mission to life.
Highlighting how the donations free up funding for additional educational enhancements, Health Science Instructor Katie Hatt, shared, “Resources that we were able to get from Altru eliminated some of the burden of things we need to purchase.”
The impact was immediate and tangible: realistic, high-quality medical equipment is now available for students to practice with, significantly enhancing the authenticity and value of their training.
“These donations of medical equipment and furniture allow us to expand the availability of our medical careers programs to students in Grand Forks and the surrounding communities,” said Eric Ripley, executive director of Career & Technical Education.
Prior to the Career Impact Academy, there were limits on the number of Intro to Healthcare courses available because of space limitations. Now, with the new facility and Altru’s contributions, the Academy will feature fully equipped labs, many more classrooms, and modern learning environments intentionally designed to support 21st-century medical education.
Hands-On Experiences
The benefits of this investment extend beyond the classroom. Altru provides about 60 clinical sites so students can engage in real-world job shadowing and internships that expose them to surgery, radiology, oncology, and more. Such hands-on exposure sets students apart in competitive post-secondary programs and job markets.
“Students that have had hands-on experience in a CNA class or have done 40-plus hours of job shadowing—they have a head start when applying for paid internships, to colleges or medical schools,” said Amy Fiala, instructor of health science.
The Pipeline | Community Retention
Importantly, this work-based learning is rooted in community retention.
“If students leave Grand Forks for school, there isn’t always a strong pull to return,” Katie noted. “Starting internships early and building local connections helps keep our talent here.”
Indeed, many former Grand Forks students who took healthcare courses in high school are now nurses, physicians, and therapists working in the same local clinics where they once trained. This is proof that the talent pipeline works when nurtured locally.
Now the high student interest for healthcare fields will be able to help meet the workforce demands.
“Putting great instructors with great students in the right space, that’s when the magic happens,” Eric concluded.