UAMS Students Showcase Health Care Careers for Helena Teens
| More than 150 high school sophomores, juniors and seniors at the KIPP Delta Collegiate High School in Helena-West Helena met with students from all five UAMS colleges Oct. 14 to learn about higher education opportunities and careers in health care.
Now in its third year, the Raising Exposure & Awareness of Careers in Health (REACH) in the Delta program is a joint endeavor of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA), the UAMS Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and the Arkansas Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association.
“This is a program we began to honor the late Dr. Edith Irby Jones, for whom our SNMA chapter is named, because she herself used to travel throughout the Delta as part of her lifelong efforts to increase access to better health,” said Tia’Asia James, SNMA president. “Each year, we go to KIPP to bring representation of minority students in different realms of health care, such as pharmacy, public health and medicine.”
Tia’Asia James, SNMA president, teaches KIPP students about diabetes and discusses life as a medical student.
During the visit, KIPP students heard from UAMS students in the colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Health Professions and Public Health about their options for college and for careers in health care, from clinical roles in nursing and medicine to public health policy and scientific research.
“This event was important to me because most students in the Delta don’t have role models they can look up to in my field,” said SNMA member and event chair Osvaldo Mendez. “I struggled with finding role models that looked like me. The biggest takeaway I hope these kids got is that there are other students like them excelling in this field and that we know they have great potential.”
To access that potential, the younger students had the chance to ask questions of UAMS students about the college experience and got to participate in hands-on demonstrations of things like recording vital signs. A college fair also offered help answering questions about the college application process, along with games and prizes.
“The Delta has disproportionate amounts of people living in poverty, and they are therefore prone to worse health outcomes,” said Mendez. “That’s why it’s even more important to target and encourage these high school students to pursue higher education and hopefully a health care career.”
Ian McVinney, SNPhA president, helped recruit UAMS student volunteers to attend.
“I think it’s good for students to get out there and advocate for their profession, and this is what I made sure to emphasize,” he said. “We want to provide the best care for all of our patients, and by doing this, we are indirectly working to improve care for the region’s patients in the future. This is why this is important to me and how I hoped to inspire other students to participate as well.”
UAMS student volunteers demonstrate ultrasound while teaching KIPP students about health care careers.
Following the program, Janet Ligon, a recruitment specialist with UAMS East Regional Campus who assisted UAMS students throughout the day, led the UAMS student volunteers on a tour of the Helena-West Helena facility.
“I often use the metaphor of a party to explain our work,” said Brian Gittens, Ed.D., UAMS vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion. “Diversity is about making sure everyone is invited to the party and inclusion is about making sure everyone who wants to gets to dance. But equity is about making sure everyone has the opportunity to get there, like offering a ride to someone without a car.
“Outreach program like this promote equity for underserved students in an underserved area,” he continued. “We’ve offered them a ride, and one day we hope we’ll see them enrolled here at UAMS and eventually working in health care and making a difference in Arkansas.”