Mentorship Program Creates Pathways for Tomorrow’s Health Professionals

High schoolers bring youth perspective, insights to health programs

The typical response when a young person expresses interest in healthcare is to encourage them to become a doctor or nurse, but the world of healthcare is far broader.

Contra Costa Health’s Health Career Pathways program is making a concerted effort to help high schoolers explore healthcare careers and learn about the depth and diversity of ways they can promote, improve and sustain health and wellness.

Contra Costa Health’s innovative Pathways program not only exposes aspiring healthcare professionals to the field but also helps them find pride in their lived experiences and invites them to design solutions to health disparities in their own communities.

More than 200 students from high schools across the county have participated in the program since its inception a decade ago. The program opens with a robust in-class curriculum covering topics such as “How -‘Isms’ Affect Health” and “What is Health Inequity.” Motivated students are encouraged to apply to participate in an eight-week paid internship that pairs them with a qualified mentor—either a Contra Costa Health employee or staff member from a participating communitybased organization partner. More than just shadowing a doctor or nurse, interns learn about the county’s prevention work through community-building activities, increasing language access, caring for the uninsured and organizing collective action to address social determinants of health.

“For me, this is all about giving students a step up and the ability to see how things work behind the scenes. I want them to see the big picture,” says Ernesto De La Torre, a Contra Costa Health program manager and mentor. “Students often think, ‘oh, I like the field’ but the internship helps them rule out certain things and discover different opportunities they probably never considered.”

The promise of the program is exemplified in Ernesto’s mentee, Annmarie Gutierrez. A 17-year-old student at Richmond’s De Anza High School, Annmarie has a passion for healthcare and a keen sense of equity. As part of the summer internship research project, Ernesto helped shape Annmarie’s upstream solution for preventing youth houselessness. Her idea was to train formerly homeless youth to facilitate school workshops about the issue and provide resources to youth in crisis to help break down stigma. Mentor guidance and feedback helped Annmarie keep sight of the real people at the heart of the macrolevel issue.

Ernesto went further, making a point of including Annmarie in his frequent COVID fieldwork across the county. Particularly impactful was one vaccination pop-up clinic at a food bank in Richmond, only minutes from Annmarie’s home.

“How had I never been there?” Annmarie remembered thinking. “This is a community that I felt that I was a part of, but I didn’t even know that these people were here and in need of help.” Newly activated, Annmarie arranged to extend her internship with Ernesto, who plans to incorporate her into various Health, Housing and Homelessness Services projects this year.

Initially unsure where she fit into the healthcare system, Annmarie wrapped up her internship with a clear focus on psychiatry and a deepened commitment to understanding the perspectives of marginalized communities. “I always wanted to take care of people, but now I have a new passion for achieving equity,” she reflects.

For his part, Ernesto says he is proud to be helping to build this high school pipeline that develops well-rounded healthcare professionals like Annmarie. “We need more people like her in the field.”