According to Vanderbilt Health, this was the first group of medical assistants to graduate at Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital through the health system’s cohort-based training model. Health care leaders often discuss staffing shortages as if thousands of qualified workers mysteriously wandered into the woods during the night. Vanderbilt Health says 73% of the program’s 186 graduates since 2022 are still working within its system. Humanizing the health care workforce means remembering that workers are human even after the graduation ceremony ends. Vanderbilt Health and Nashville State should also take pride in building a partnership that delivered something more valuable than promotional language.