The Latino Center for Health (LCH) is strongly committed to the workforce development of Latinx individuals across the health disciplines, including medicine, nursing, dentistry, public health, pharmacy, and social work. We recognize that Latinx/es make up the largest ethnic minority group and the fastest growing segment of Washington state’s population (US Census Bureau). However, research shows that nationally, Latinx/e populations experience worse quality of care compared to non-Latinx/e Whites (Betancourt, 2006). The scarcity of bilingual, bicultural practitioners significantly contributes to this disparity. This unacceptable reality warrants our commitment and strategic action. Thus, we actively collaborate with health officials, government officials, community leaders, health organizations and educators in multi-faceted ways to facilitate important shifts in this worrisome trajectory.
Following the Center’s research and publications related to the Latino Physician’s Workforce Study (2020), legislation was passed and a goal was established that by 2025 our state’s two public schools of medicine would achieve population parity with regards to the incoming cohorts of their students. The Center also organized a state-wide symposium in October 2020 to present the findings and discuss steps needed to address the shortage of Latinx physicians in Washington state. Aligned with this work, key informant interviews were conducted in April 2022 to gain insight into health career pathways and health workforce development in Washington state. Additionally, the LCH collaborated on an Area Health Education Center (AHEC) proposal to establish a new site at Wenatchee Valley College, which has since received funding.
We continue to partner with this new AHEC, and in Oct. 2023 we held a summit of over 50 local leaders and stakeholders for an informative and inspiring meeting at Wenatchee Valley College. The need for further work was keenly voiced throughout this summit. Dr. Leo Morales, co-director of the LCH, created a slide presentation that covered various issues of access to education faced by Latinx/Hispanic populations, including data that highlights the critical role community colleges play in preparing Latinx students for careers in health sciences. However, these careers are largely at the level of technicians such as medical assistants, phlebotomists, and home health aides. A serious gap exists in having Latinx students well represented among health professionals, including physicians, registered nurses, and dentists.
“When you reach equity, you won’t see a difference in population outcomes around access to education, employment, & health.”
Jenée Myers Twitchell,
Washington STEM
We continue to expand the workforce of Latinx mental health practitioners through our specialized depression care training program. We build up the capacity of community health organizations by training and supervising their bachelor-level staff to deliver an evidence-based, eight-session, culturally tailored cognitive-behavioral therapy treatment that is delivered by telephone to urban and rural Latinx adults in English and in Spanish.
Augmenting all these efforts, the LCH invests in developing the Latinx workforce through our Graduate and Professional Student Fellowship Program. For the 2023-2024 fellowship, we selected 13 students from the UW health science schools, Heritage University, Eastern Washington University, and Washington State University. We provide $2500 of funding support to each student, which is matched by the dean of their school or university president for a total award of $5000 to each recipient. Additionally, we provide programmatic activities and mentorship to these students and help build a sense of a cohort among these Latinx scholars and future leaders.
Our work to promote equity and impact the growth and mentorship of the Latinx health workforce continues. We have been asked by the World Health Organization to present our work at the March 2024 conference in Spokane. In addition, plans to host a Latinx Health Workforce summit in the Tri-Cities area in the spring of 2024 have been initiated. These efforts continue to address the critical need of bilingual and bicultural practitioners to provide quality care to Latinx individuals and families and identify strategies to expand the pipelines for Latinx students across the health disciplines and in our health science schools.
The LCH supports parity in all health professions. We know that linguistically and culturally appropriate care produces better health outcomes (Institute of Medicine, 2004) and thus we are vibrantly committed to creating and expanding pathways to increase the workforce of Latinx individuals across the health science disciplines and advancing the health of Latinx individuals, families, and communities across WA state.