Care by design

Cone Health is creating clearer on-ramps into health care — through high school internships, the CMA Academy and Cone Health University — and shaping a workforce that keeps pace with the community’s needs.

Morning light falls across the exam room at LeBauer Primary Care as Jessica Wilsey secures the blood pressure cuff on her patient’s arm. She meets his gaze with a smile of quiet assurance. Between questions about his grandkids and how he’s been sleeping, she catches a hint of something else — a skipped meal here and there, a slight shrug that suggests more than he says aloud. When she gets the sense that healthy food has been hard to come by, she already knows who to call.

It’s a simple exchange, but one that reveals how care at Cone Health is changing. Jessica isn’t just taking vitals; she’s listening for the story behind the numbers. What keeps her patient from eating well or making it to appointments, and who can help? This approach is part of our commitment to value-based care and our distinct efforts to fuel the health-care workforce.

Growing our own Certified Medical Assistants

Jessica is one of dozens trained through the Certified Medical Assistant Academy, one of three ways Cone Health is building the workforce needed to care for our community. Together, high school internships, the CMA Academy and Cone Health University are creating clearer on-ramps into health care careers, helping people grow into meaningful jobs while strengthening care across the region.

Jessica found the CMA Academy through the United Way of Greater Greenboro’s Family Success Center. At the time, she was working multiple low-wage jobs while raising three children. The academy offered a path to stability and purpose.

“When they handed me this, I felt on top of the world,” she says, holding her Cone Health employee badge. The badge became more than an ID; it became a key to a career.

Cone Health found what it needed in Jessica, too: a community member whose compassion and persistence translate directly into patient care.

That kind of connection is exactly the point. “People worry about who’s going to take care of them and their families,” says Michelle Schneider, vice president and chief philanthropy officer. “Cone Health is addressing that challenge in a unique way — by helping current employees grow, while also opening doors for new people to enter health care. Donor and partner support helps make that possible.”

What began as an internal program grew into an economic mobility initiative through partnerships with the Truist Foundation, United Way and Goodwill. The academy removes barriers by eliminating tuition, offering paid training, helping coordinate child care and transportation, and guaranteeing job placement.

More than 100 graduates later, it is proving to be an investment in both health outcomes and family stability. People like Jessica enter the workforce with new skills, stronger financial footing and a chance to make a difference close to home.

Jessica’s story echoes across Cone Health — in the wound care center with Jean Patz, in specialty care with Rachael Cardinez and in the school-based telehealth clinic at Simkins Elementary with Amiracle Liles. Jessica and Amiracle are new recruits to health care. Jean and Rachael are dedicated Cone Health employees eager to grow their skills and widen their impact. 

All are part of a growing workforce — a living health-care pipeline.

Opening doors in high school

With a deeper investment in workforce development, the pipeline can begin early. Supported by donor generosity, Cone Health’s Career & Technical Education Internship Program gives high school students a first look at health care careers and helps them imagine themselves in roles that support the community’s health.

After a successful 2024 pilot, the program expanded across Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties in summer 2025, offering stipends, reducing transportation barriers and giving 39 students up to 120 hours of clinical experience.

Students shadow technicians, nurses, pharmacists and other team members, discovering that a health system depends on far more than doctors and nurses alone. They see how imaging, urgent care, laboratory science, radiation oncology and many other specialties all play a role in keeping a community healthy.

For student Maria Martinez Mendoza, the impact was immediate. “Senior year can be really stressful,” she says. “But this helped me see the opportunities I have. Because of my experience at Cone Health, I’m really excited about what my future holds for me.”

For many students, this is where a future in health care first feels possible.

Cone Health is building on that momentum. The next step is the Career Catalyst Program — a longer, paid rotation model that deepens skill-building and opens a clearer bridge to employment after graduation. Cone Health is seeking long-term funding to grow this effort. These 300-hour paid internships offer professional-skills training and shadowing for students from four counties. The goal is to cultivate a workforce that is skilled, diverse and deeply connected to the communities we serve, and to give graduates a tangible path into employment and ongoing development at Cone Health.

Building the workforce from within

Cone Health’s third pathway focuses on the people already serving patients every day.

Through Cone Health University, employees gain access to leadership development, clinical training, coaching and tuition support that help them grow in their roles and adapt to a health care environment increasingly shaped by prevention, coordination and whole-person care.

Chief People and Culture Officer Michelle Adamolekun says this work is essential to Cone Health’s long-term vision. “It’s really important that our team members understand what value-based care means,” she says. “Cone Health University helps us create a shared understanding across the system and connect it to our patients.”

That matters because the future of care depends on more than filling jobs. It depends on preparing people to listen closely, think ahead and connect patients with the support they need to stay well.

That is the work Jessica Wilsey does every morning. She is thinking one step ahead, asking the questions that ground the science of medicine in the art of care.

Do they have what they need to stay well when they leave today? Who else needs to know what is happening here, and what support should follow?

Cone Health is building a workforce that can answer those questions — through high school internships, the CMA Academy and Cone Health University. The result is stronger access to care, greater opportunity for individuals and families, and a health system better prepared to serve the community for years to come.

That instinct — to connect the dots, anticipate what comes next and never lose sight of the person in front of you — is precisely what Cone Health is building into its workforce systemwide through value-based care. Their patients may be managing diabetes or recovering from surgery, but these caregivers are managing something even more vital: trust.