The US urgently needs more bilingual healthcare workers. This clinic might have the solution
Summary
Casa de Salud, a primary care clinic in Albuquerque, trains bilingual high school and college students through a year-long health apprenticeship. The program aims to expand culturally informed care and help students from underrepresented communities enter healthcare careers and serve their communities.Key Facts
- Casa de Salud opened in 2004 in Albuquerque’s South Valley neighborhood.
- The clinic’s apprentice program began in 2005 and has trained more than 300 bilingual high school and college students.
- Apprentices learn tasks such as taking vital signs and may receive harm-reduction training, including how to provide fentanyl test strips.
- At least a third of the students the clinic has tracked entered healthcare, and more than half of that group attended medical school.
- New Mexico has healthcare workforce shortages in 32 of its 33 counties.
- Latinos make up 20% of the U.S. population but about 6% of the physician workforce.
- Gisselle Martinez, a 21-year-old college student, works as a bilingual health apprentice while pursuing a path toward becoming a certified nurse anesthetist.
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