To My Fellow Assembly Church Family
I’m writing you to express great excitement concerning a grant that is within our reach. We have been approached to offer a cost-free program that exposes middle- and high-school aged youth to opportunities in health careers. Participating churches/groups will form health career clubs and learn about health professions, acquire life skills, and consider the place of health care in the Kingdom of God, all through a comprehensive curriculum. These health clubs will assist in providing a mechanism to enlarge the number of qualified minority applicants or hospitals and other health care organizations in need of competent, highly motivated workers.
This project is called the Minority Health Careers Initiative (MCHI)and is funded by the Duke Endowment through a grant to the North Carolina Hospital Association.
Each participating church/group must go through a MCHI train-the-trainer session that allows adult advisors to be trained in the MCHI curriculum. The training session allows the trained advisors to gain first-hand knowledge and experience in a simulated educational setting amongst their peers.
What do the Churches receive? Implementation funds that can be used for approved club purposes such as copying, club meeting snacks, mailing costs, etc. Clubs will also receive additional funds for certain sections within the curriculum and for approved final projects. Also included are implementation materials, resource notebooks, supplemental items, and incentives for youth participants.
What does it take to receive the implementation funds and materials? The trained advisors will submit a roster to the MCHI staff indicating at least 10 youth (6th grade through 12th grade) interested in participating in the Initiative.
What happens after the Initiative is completed? Each club will engage in site visits to observe health care professional working in their fields, as well as design and implement a project for the church/group to use to promote healthy living and re-enforce lessons learned in the curriculum.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our latest quest to start up our Community Outreach Center. Should you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the telephone number above.
Respectfully Submitted,
Elder Gary Jones, Pastor
Cedar Point Disciples of Christ Church
OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
What is the demand for this Initiative in health careers?
- There will be approximately 3.5 million health care jobs created in the next few years.
- As the senior population grows, so does the demand for competent professionals to deliver medical services.
- Large numbers of highly trained medical personnel will be required to operate the new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
- African-Americans carry a disproportionate burden of preventable and chronic disease and the nation has never produced a proportionate number of African-American health professionals.
- 22% of the population is African-American, yet only 10% are in the registered nurse workforce.
- Latinos, African-Americans, and Native Americans make up 25% of the US population, yet constitute only 6% of practicing physicians.
What are the expected outcomes?
- To have a health care workforce strengthen and diversified.
- To have a positive economic impact on African-Americans living in NC.
- To have youth empowered by the experience of meeting health care professionals interested in them and their future.
What does the Initiative consist of?
5 sections:
- Curriculum Modules, dialog scripts for teaching the lessons, ice breakers, and team building exercises.
- Assessment Tools and Answer Keys for determining if the material has been learned and retained.
- Forms, agreements, and evaluation materials that need to be completed and turned in.
- Rosters indicating names of those participating.
- Resources that will help with understanding the medical terminology.
12 modules: (subject names only)
- Choose Wisely
- Health Care and the Kingdom of God
- Investments and Returns
- Closing the Health Gap
- Hands-off Health Care
- Nursing Careers: The Sky’s the Limit
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Life Skills/Allied Health Careers
- Site Visits/Health Promotion Project.
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