REIMAGINING CAREERS IN HEALTHCARE

Rush’s REACH program leads STEM education on Chicago’s West Side.

Rush University Medical System is training young people in skills that lead to good-paying jobs. It’s one of Rush’s strategies for addressing inequitable outcomes in health, wealth and education.

“Lots of young people may have a dream, but no understanding of how to achieve that dream,” said Rukiya Curvey Johnson, MBA, who leads the Rush Education and Career Hub (REACH).

Rush has invested $1 million in REACH with the goal of preparing 5,000 students for prosperous careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and in healthcare each year.

REACH participants are 80% Black and Latinx, 70% low-income and more than 65% would-be first generation college students. As a result, REACH is building a more diverse pipeline of talent into the STEM and healthcare fields through mentoring, internships and academic enrichment.

Within the next three to five years, the program aims to launch apprenticeships in community health and IT, create a scholarship endowment fund, reach 10,000 West Side students and become a national model for developing equitable career pathways for young people.

Curvey Johnson knows it’s no easy road. And to make a difference, the work must start early — with children in elementary school.

That’s why REACH’s 14 programs include a “STEM-agineers” program targeting pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in five West Side elementary schools, Future Ready Learning Labs during the school day for grades 6-8 at two elementary schools, and Illinois’ first Health Professionals of America Club for middle schoolers.

Students from 40 high schools who participate in REACH MedSTEM programs get help from the ground up, too, including essential guidance about how to pay for college through REACH-sponsored financial aid workshops.

In addition to preparing students for high demand clinical roles like nursing, phlebotomy and ECG tech, REACH also helps students gain experience in IT, business, finance and human resources — vital jobs in healthcare and across industries.

College interns have the opportunity to conduct research with Rush staff and faculty. These internships provide the necessary exposure, engagement and participation to help young people develop a STEM or healthcare occupational identity.

“We’ve had over 90% of our high-school graduates enroll in college and persist, and also have a healthcare or STEM major, and that’s huge,” Curvey Johnson said.

“Four years ago, I visited Pre-K classrooms where a four-year-old boy said he wanted to be a scientist,” she said. “I was excited and thought we should be doing everything to help him get on a path to science.

“This student is literally less than 2 miles from the Illinois Medical District and world class institutions,” Curvey Johnson said. “Yet everything about his immediate environment would say, ‘No, he can’t.’”

Soon after the visit, Rush hired Curvey Johnson.

Since then, Rush has expanded program offerings across grade levels and tripled the number of students that REACH serves.

Curvey Johnson still remembers her conversation with the leaders of Rush’s health equity program, Dr. David Ansell and Darlene Hightower, JD. They agreed that a healthier future and a more equitable recovery depend on investing in young people.

And it reminded her of a Gwendolyn Brooks quote: “We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.”