Julitza Jimenez has dreamed of being a pediatrician ever since she was a little girl with asthma and spending countless days in hospitals. more stories like this
Jimenez, 20, is poor, Hispanic and comes from an urban school district. In many places those circumstances would have made it almost impossible for her to get the training or course work needed to pursue a career in medicine.
But not in Springfield, where BayState Health began an initiative three years ago with the city's public schools to give interested children supplemental math and science classes, labs and medical internships.
Jimenez has used the Springfield-BayState Educational Partnership to become a certified nurses assistant, get a job at the BayState Medical Center, and get into a nursing program at a local college. She plans to go from there to medical school.
"The hospital encouraged me to come up here and do different programs that I didn't know about," she said. "My teacher and the hospital they helped me a lot, showing me how to go apply for a job, helping me with the interviews and stuff like that. I was hired right away."
While blacks, Hispanics and American Indians make up more than 25 percent of the U.S. population, a 2004 federal study found that only 9 percent of the nation's nurses, 6 percent of its physicians, and 5 percent of dentists come from these minority groups.
The Sullivan Commission study cited education as a major barrier between minorities and those medical careers.
"They don't get adequate math or science preparation that would help them be successful in college or in a health profession," said Polly Bednash, who heads the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and was a member of that commission.
That is what BayState was finding in Springfield, where about 80 percent of the students are minority, and 52 percent are Hispanic. The city has an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent, and the hospital had unfilled jobs, because it could not get qualified workers.
Instead of complaining that the schools were not doing their job, hospital officials met with city school officials and came up with the idea for the partnership.
"Nationally, the engagement of industry in education has typically has been, let's give the schools some extra money, said Peter Blain, the director of the Springfield-Baystate educational partnership. "That's just not doing it. We need to be invested at a different level, not just with money but with staff, curriculum, design, much, much more."
At Putnam High School, the city's vocational-technical high school, the hospital agreed to provide lab space, equipment, and professionals to teach everything from phlebotomy to job-interviewing skills. The students take their certified nursing assistant exams in 11th grade, and by 12th grade are doing internships at nursing homes, BayState and other medical facilities.
This has opened up the doors to people who wouldn't have known how to get into BayState, said Debi Clark, a nursing manager in the cardiology department. "It's really helped bring the education piece along, and just the experience too. Health care can be overwhelming experience, and we're providing them an opportunity to come in and get experience in a comfortable, learning-type environment."
At other city schools, students can sign up for extra math and science classes after school or on weekends to help them prepare for nursing or medical schools. They also can participate in shadowing programs at the hospital, and other hands-on experience.
"This was a match made in heaven," said Joseph Burke, Springfield's superintendent of schools. "We have a need to drive up student achievement, particularly in the math and science area, and they needed particular jobs filled that required the same skill set. It was perfect."
Because BayState is supplementing, not replacing, what the schools already were offering, the teachers' union got on board too, he said.
Last year, 374 students participated in the partnership. This year, the number is expected to exceed 500, Blain said. So far, 22 students have been hired into full-time positions at BayState. The hospital, Blain said, continues to be involved with other graduates, helping them apply for medical schools and providing mentors.
"We are getting students hired and we are finding pathways for them," Blain said. "They are also developing great professional and peer networks."
The schools are also seeing an increase in math scores, and the number of students seeking advance placement science courses, Burke said.
Blain said he's already received inquiries from other industries, who interested in setting up similar programs for engineering and other professions.
Besides giving the kids educational opportunities, the Springfield-BayState partnership also will allow the hospital to better reflect the community in serves, something studies have showed leads to better medical outcomes for patients, Bednash said.
Jimenez said she sometimes serves as a translator for Hispanic patients on her floor. They tend to trust her more than non-Spanish speaking hospital employees, she said.
"We need more programs like this," Bednash said. "The fastest growing work force in this country is the health professions work force. If we are not able to provide people support to get into these health professions, we limit tremendously their potential to have a successful career and life."
Jimenez , who grew up in a single-parent home, helping support two brothers and her grandparents, said without the partnership, she never could have pursued her dream of becoming a doctor.
"I don't care how long it takes me, I'm doing it," she said.(Source) |
