Michigan is facing a health care provider shortage, especially for underserved communities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
The Detroit Tri-County Social Work Health Career Opportunity Academy, called “The Academy,” trains students with disadvantaged backgrounds to increase the number of people going into health care fields.
Bridget Weller, a professor of Social Work at Wayne State University, says the shortage was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we think about the state of Michigan, 72 of the 83 counties do not have enough providers to meet the needs of people residing there, including the three counties that with around Detroit,” she said.
In Michigan, about 3.5 million people do not have a provider or services. She says the lack of services disproportionately impacts rural and urban settings.
Weller says by 2032, 20% of jobs needed are in health care settings, including nurses, social workers, dental hygienists, physical therapists and others.
Weller says the health care provider shortage affects underserved communities — people who are often experiencing poverty, with higher rates of disease burden and less access to medical care.
“Almost anybody you talk to about trying to see a provider — either mental health or physical health — how often have you gone to see a provider and they weren’t available, or they left because of burnout and burden, followed by issues around [whether] they understand your culture or your language?” she said.
Weller says that also leads to higher mortality rates, higher likelihood of getting chronic conditions, and lower likelihood of getting diagnosed properly.
“These high-need areas in these underserved communities are disproportionately impacted when we don’t have health care providers to meet those needs,” she said.
Workforce development with a purpose
The Academy was created nearly two years ago to work with universities and community colleges to provide supplemental educational instruction for people seeking careers in health care.
“One of the things that my team and I are doing is we’ve been implementing workforce development programs where we receive funding that provides enhanced training for people who are pursuing degrees, particularly at community colleges and at university settings,” she said.
The program provides enhanced training, 180 hours of training with a $2,100 scholarship and a $2,100 stipend.
Weller says student graduates, or ambassadors, are from educationally or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
“We have a number of tremendous needs, including homelessness. I think we had about 16% of the people in our program experiencing homelessness, as well as selling plasma and things like that.”
Addressing the health care provider shortage
The Academy says there is a 92% graduation rate.
“Moreover, 89% of our students have gone on to the next level of their education, so either going from an associate’s degree to a bachelor’s degree, or bachelor’s degree to a master’s degree,” Weller said.
About 30% of those individuals are a part of the health care workforce.
Weller says the program shows students need educational and financial support to pursue health care fields, which in turn may help reduce the health care provider shortage in Michigan.
“I think if we do that, then we’ve got a chance at addressing a lot of the needs that are available,” she said.
Weller says students from underserved communities tend to go back and work in their communities.
“And so the more efforts that we can do to supporting students with those experiences, I think long term, we will be in a much better position to help underserved communities, because we try to get students from the communities with the hopes, because we know data shows people go back to their communities.”
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