Improving Health and Wellbeing of the North Coast

CAL POLY HUMBOLDT is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of North Coast communities through initiatives like diversifying healthcare professionals, building a facility to train healthcare workers, and creating partnerships with other colleges and universities.

The result is a significant evolution in healthcare education and practice. Programs grounded in practical experience for students and collaborations at the local and state levels are at the heart of it.

These efforts are critical at a time when many Northern California counties, including Humboldt County, are medically underserved. In Humboldt County, the ratio of patients to medical providers is 1,390-to-1, significantly higher than the state average of 1,294-to-1, says Biology Professor and pre-med advisor Jianmin Zhong. Many factors exacerbate this shortage, such as higher poverty rates and a need for workforce diversity.

Humboldt's Healthcare Career Pathways Program, launched by Zhong, aims to increase and diversify the healthcare workforce in rural and minority communities in California. The program offers paid summer internships to students interested in medical careers and provides them with career guidance through collaborations with healthcare professionals. The University is partnering with Humboldt-Del Norte Medical Society to match students with healthcare professionals for career guidance under the pathway program.

Launched with more than $500,000 in grant funding from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information, the program supports 10 student interns, like alum Jaquelinee Salas Haro (‘22, Biology), for five years. The program aims to inspire students, especially those from traditionally underrepresented communities, to pursue healthcare careers and return to rural areas to practice.

Salas Haro, who completed the program in 2021, is a first-generation Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) student who aspires to be a physician’s assistant. She says she knows what it’s like to feel unrepresented in the healthcare field and wants to represent her community.

The Department of Social Work at Cal Poly Humboldt has launched the Rural and Tribal Behavioral Health Master of Social Work Fellowship program to promote diversity and equity in behavioral healthcare in Humboldt.

“A big part of this fellowship is getting more people into the public behavioral health workforce who represent the cultural and linguistic diversity of people receiving services,” says Ronnie Swartz, Social Work professor and behavioral health workforce development coordinator.

The fellowship is designed to provide students pursuing the two-year program with financial support and experience at local community-based organizations, such as Two Feathers Native American Family Services, Southern Humboldt Family Resource Center, the Northern California Indian Development Council, United Indian Health Services Potawot Health Village, and more.

In return, each fellow pledges to work in underserved rural and Tribal behavioral health settings during their fellowship and two years after graduation. This program aims to improve behavioral health in California, addressing inequality, increasing graduation rates, and enhancing care accessibility in response to a professional shortage.

One of the many healthcare disparities on the North Coast is the severe shortage of nurses who understand rural communities' complexities and unique needs. Humboldt launched the Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing program (RN to BSN) to address this.

The hybrid program allows registered nurses with an associate's degree to pursue a bachelor's degree while working in Humboldt County. The curriculum emphasizes professional knowledge, leadership skills, and community-focused healthcare. It aims to foster a culture of compassion and resiliency. Since its launch in 2020, 18 nurses have graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and more are making progress.

In addition to the BSN program, Humboldt and College of the Redwoods are collaborating to shape the future of a robust healthcare workforce on the North Coast. In 2022, California Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire announced a $10 million investment to create a Healthcare Education Hub in Arcata to be shared by both institutions. The hub will have classrooms, instructional labs, and other facilities for training health professionals, including nurses and technicians. Construction is expected to begin in August 2024 with the goal of completion by December 2025.

The University is also supporting Native students' access to medical school and addressing health disparities in Native and Tribal communities. In a joint partnership with the UC Davis School of Medicine, Cal Poly Humboldt introduced the Huwighurruk (pronounced hee-way-gou-duck) Tribal Health Postbaccalaureate Program for pre-med students passionate about providing healthcare to American Indian/Alaska Native communities in rural and urban areas.

The program offers eligible students a stipend to help offset living and tuition costs. Students who successfully complete the Huwighurruk program with a 3.7 GPA or higher, score 499 or higher on the MCAT, and complete all the prerequisite courses at UC Davis School of Medicine will receive conditional acceptance into the school tuition-free.

“The goal of this program is to break down the barriers associated with applying to medical school. It's disheartening to know that less than 50% of Native students are accepted into medical school, and out of those, 43% never apply again. This program aims to successfully recruit, retain, and train aspiring medical students to accomplish their objectives,” says Dr. Antoinette Martinez ('94, Psychology), a physician at United Indian Health Services in Humboldt County and co-director of Tribal Health Initiatives for UC Davis School of Medicine.

In the Wiyot language, “huwighurruk” means plants, grass, leaves, and medicine. Huwighurruk scholars will be immersed in a culturally focused framework intertwined with courses at Cal Poly Humboldt that will focus on Tribal culture and connections.