Academy On-Demand is a small business with a big mission – to educate and empower future healthcare workers through professional and personal growth, while actively addressing the healthcare workforce shortage in Arizona and beyond.  
 
With locations in Mesa, Tucson, Sierra Vista, and Green Valley, Academy On-Demand provides a hybrid model of online and in-person training for individuals across Arizona to become certified nursing assistants (CNAs), assisted living caregivers, and assisted living managers. The instructors include seasoned healthcare professionals such as nurses, nurse practitioners, and specialists. Academy On-Demand also engages in workforce development initiatives including credentialing programs, career path guidance, and employer connections.  
 
The business’ founder and CEO, Laura Oldaker, has a passion for the healthcare field that stems from her experiences as a former nursing assistant and former homecare agency owner. In 2015, Laura recognized an urgent need to train more healthcare professionals, as the demand for care outpaced the availability of qualified caregivers. This led her to create and launch her own training programs, sparking her love for education.   
 
“The Academy was born out of the pain, as an employer of healthcare workers, that I was experiencing along with the rest of the country. We were able to find a solution for ourselves and decided to share that solution with the rest of Arizona,” says Laura.    
 
In 2018, Laura sold her homecare agency to focus solely on education with Academy On-Demand. Today, the organization trains over 1,000 healthcare professionals annually, with a majority of the students coming from underserved and marginalized backgrounds.   
 
Approximately 70% of Academy On-Demand's adult learners identify as people of color and around 90% identify as women. Many students are people who have immigrated from other countries, with English as their second language. A significant number of the women served are re-entering the workforce, including single mothers who are primary earners for their families and unemployed women seeking careers with growth potential.   
 
Each year, Academy On-Demand partners with charitable organizations such as the YWCA of Southern Arizona and I Am You 360 to provide program scholarships to vulnerable women and young adults who may not otherwise have the financial means to pursue healthcare training. Through these scholarships, Academy On-Demand helps dismantle barriers and expand access to education and career opportunities.   
 
Laura emphasizes that Academy On-Demand is designed to help individuals take the first step toward achieving their goals, no matter where they are on their journeys – “We don’t want to turn people away if we know we can help them get started... We fill the gap between having nothing and achieving something, like getting a license or certification that becomes a steppingstone towards the next big thing.”   
 
The dedicated team at Academy On-Demand, small yet impactful with around 17 members, is deeply committed to inspiring transformative change by helping individuals shift their mindsets and embrace their full potential. A key differentiator of Academy On-Demand's training programs is the presence of dedicated student success advisors. These advisors play an essential role in ensuring student success by building strong relationships, offering support for academic challenges, and holding students accountable.  
 
In addition to tailoring its programs to the skill level, language abilities, and learning style of the students, Academy On-Demand integrates trauma-informed practices into its education model. The team understands that trauma impacts everyone, and many of their students may have experienced significant trauma in their lives.   
 
“As an adult, trauma affects how you learn and retain information,” Laura explains. “By taking the approach of trauma-informed teaching, it creates a comfortable and safe environment for our program participants, where they feel they can learn around people who are respectful and perhaps have shared experiences. It also eliminates the instructor-student hierarchy, allowing everyone to have a respectful exchange of knowledge.”   
 
Academy On-Demand has made impressive strides in healthcare training and workforce development through its scholarship programs, its partnership with ARIZONA@WORK facilitating direct connections between students and employers, and its collaboration with the Arizona Health Care Association, through which Academy On-Demand trained several hundred health care professionals as part of a state grant.   
 
The organization is also filled with success stories. Many graduates aspire to solve the problems they have personally experienced. For example, Kim, a woman who struggled to find suitable care for her mother with Alzheimer’s and speech and hearing impairments, decided to train as an assisted living caregiver and manager through Academy On-Demand. She is now working to open her own assisted living facility focused on helping individuals like her mother with cognitive impairments and communication challenges.   
 
When reflecting on Academy On-Demand's greatest successes, Laura highlights the power of individual transformation. “I consider our biggest win to be every single student that leaves here better than when they arrived... The whole team here believes that just by us showing up and doing what we do, we’re changing somebody’s life... If we can change one life, we can change many.”  
 
Laura also acknowledges that Academy On-Demand's success is deeply rooted in the support, time, effort, and dedication of her husband, Justin, whose daily commitment strengthens both her and the organization.   
 
Looking ahead, Laura plans to expand Academy On-Demand's offerings to include training for aspiring entrepreneurs interested in opening their own assisted living facilities and healthcare centers. She also hopes to introduce new programs such as an expanded phlebotomy course and a medical assistant program.   
 
Laura encourages those interested in supporting Academy On-Demand and its initiatives to donate to organizations that support trade education, such as Chicanos Por La Causa and United Way. For those interested in becoming a healthcare professional, she invites them to consider Academy On-Demand as their training provider. To learn more and support Academy On-Demand's mission, visit academyon-demand.com.  
 
In Laura’s words, “Healthcare affects us all... If we train more healthcare workers, we can all receive better care when it’s our turn"