This NAF program is working to bridge diversity gap in healthcare

Press Release
September 21, 2021
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By Spencer Brewer

Janeth Rios said there is a stark lack of diversity in the healthcare industry, which leads to worse outcomes for people of color seeking treatment.

Through a program at local Dallas high schools, she aims to change this one student at a time.

Rios was most recently the teacher lead at the Academy of Health Sciences at Skyline High School, a program under the NAF umbrella that seeks to bring more students of color into healthcare by exposing them to the industry. She recently transferred to become the program’s coordinator at Bryan AdamsHigh School. Creating diversity in the healthcare industry creates better overall health outcomes, Rios said.

Diversity in healthcare plays a crucial role in patient care, as healthcare workers from different racial and ethnic backgrounds can provide better care to patients from those same backgrounds, Rios said. Cultural competency and communication save lives in a healthcare setting, she said.

There are multiple barriers standing between students of color and a healthcare profession, Rios said. These include educational, cultural, and socioeconomic factors, which all work against students from diverse backgrounds seeking careers in medicine.

About 95% of the students in the academy are female and all of them are students of color. The vast majority come from disadvantaged backgrounds, Rios said. The program graduated about 50 students in the last year.

“It’s super important to have individuals that look like the people that we’re serving,” Rios said. “Because they can connect and relate better.

The program uses project-based learning to simulate the team-driven approach students will have to take into the field. Outside of learning about healthcare in general, the program also teaches students other skills such as cultural competency. “It’s really teaching the cultural component, being empathetic and understanding,” Rios said.

NAF oversees multiple academies across the state and hundreds throughout the nation, according to its website. In Texas, 23 high schools have Academy of Health Sciences programs or similar programs covering other topics such as finance, engineering, and information technology.

She said the biggest need the Academy of Health Sciences has right now is community partnerships.

“If you want more individuals that are diverse, we need to have a way that we can communicate with the community to build those partnerships,” Rios said.

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