Growing Our Own: Muskegon Develops Program to Get Students Interested in Health Care Careers

Opportunity open for more colleague volunteers to participate

Medical staff colleagues in Muskegon are working on an ambitious program to get students from area schools interested in pursuing careers in health care. The younger the students, the better – starting with third, fourth and fifth graders. More colleagues are needed to help the community realize that Trinity Health Muskegon wants to reach out to kids and let them know what’s possible.

The initiative started in 2019, but the Growing Our Own program was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I really looked around at our professional staff and I didn't see it looking like our community. We have a lot of minorities who work in our hospital but not in the professional staff,” explained Chief of Staff Jerry Evans, MD, MMM, FACEP, who came up with the idea. "And I felt like that was not what was the best for our community, nor did it take into account the incredibly smart kids that I see coming into the emergency department every day.”

A conversation Dr. Evans had with Cory Michell, the former pastoral mission leader in Muskegon, put things in perspective “So I started asking questions and we met for several months,” said Dr. Evans. “Cory helped me understand the importance of our medical staff looking like our community.”

There’s plenty of talent in Muskegon County. But priorities have shifted over the last few decades. “When I was back in medical school, way back when there were programs for minority high school students to get into college,” laments Dr. Evans. “But we set those kids up for failure because we didn't teach them how to get through college. We just got them into college.”

A steering committee was formed and now includes four groups working on the project: the Boys & Girls Club of the Muskegon Lakeshore, the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District, the Career Tech Center and Trinity Health Muskegon. But the project was created for the long term. There are no shortcuts – this will be a 15 to 20-year project, according to Dr. Evans. The goal is to build up the professional staff with residents in Muskegon County.

By exposing younger students to the possibilities of health care and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers, students can be better prepared for not only getting into college but graduating as well.

The first event attended by Growing Our Own was a career fair on Feb. 9 at the Career Tech Center. Nearly 20 medical professionals attended, with personnel from several practice areas, including OB/GYN, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy and imaging.

More than 800 students from Muskegon County schools attended. This was the first time that Trinity Health Muskegon participated to this degree in this type of career fair.

All Muskegon colleagues are welcome to participate in the program, but they are especially looking for providers in areas requiring at least two years of college or post-high school training. These types of careers included dieticians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, radiology technicians, physician assistants, nurses, physicians, social workers and many others. Dr. Evans hopes to eventually expand the options to other hospital roles like IT, administration, facilities and even mechanical careers.

Currently, hospital systems around the nation – including Michigan – are confronting staffing issues, especially with registered nurses and primary care physicians. The deficit is expected to grow in the next decade.

Dr. Evans realizes the challenge is a big one and it’s not something that is going to happen right away. But it needs to start now. “There are kids who are juniors and seniors in high school who could go to college and get into medical school,” he said. “There's no doubt about it.”

Colleagues interested in volunteering for the program can contact Dr. Evans at evansjea@trinity-health.org.