Students trained as public health ambassadors
Graduates of the Fairfax County Health Department’s Public Health Youth Ambassador Program – most of them from Justice High School – were honored at a ceremony hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health.
The Youth Ambassador program trains high school students from communities of color as public health workers.
When they complete the program, the ambassadors receive a certificate of completion from Morehouse School of Medicine’s High School Community Health Worker Program, a $500 scholarship, and a laptop. Students keep the medical supplies they received as part of their training.
Participating students take classes at Justice High School or the Franconia Government Center. They also complete field hours at a healthcare facility and carry out a community health project.
At the recognition ceremony on March 1, Admiral Rachel Levine, M.D., said: “We need to note the amazing strength, resilience, and power of young people today. Young adults play a critical role in creating a better future for all of us.”
“The Youth Ambassador program addresses a number of critical needs in public health: building community trust, advancing health literacy and equity in communities of color, and producing a corps of community health workers ready to play an active role in creating a healthier Fairfax,” said Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu, director of the Fairfax County Health Department.
“Studies have shown that patients feel more comfortable with people who look like them,” said Dr. Tonya Adkins, CEO of HealthWorks for Northern Virginia. “It’s important for patients to see people like us, and that we advocate for minority populations.”
The 23 students who graduated from the Public Health Youth Ambassador program Feb. 25 include Mariamawit Ezechiel from Annandale High School and Omar Gabriel Lorenzo Alvarez from West Springfield High School.
The rest are from Justice High School: Nanci Bernal Aguirre, Vivian Araia, Diana Vargas Avila, Ashley Luna Cerrato, Mary Coimbra, Selam Demeke, Makeda Endalkachew, Yeabsra Guetachew, Marilyn Aguilon Gomez, Keilin Gutierrez, Janet Arana-Hoyos, Delina Iyob, Yalda Jimenez, Rubi Medrano, Aisha Hussein Osman, Bianca Rojas-Quinteros, Mariamawit Shibabaw, Hiwot Tadesse, Janeth Morales Trejo, Winta Yemane, and Ingrid Zurita.
This is the program’s second year. Fourteen students graduated in 2022.
The Public Health Youth Ambassadors program is a partnership of the Fairfax County Health Department, Edu-Futuro, and Stronger2 (Stronger Partnership, Stronger Community: Using Health Literacy to Increase Resilience). The program is funded through a $3.875 million grant to the Health Department from the Office of Minority Health to the Health Department.
Looks like there’s only one male student in the whole bunch. Another example of the unspeakable matriarchy that has come to dominate our public education system.
I see two. So what will you do to encourage more males to apply for this program? In any case, outreach to increase the health and medical understanding in underserved neighborhoods is a good thing no matter who is doing the outreach. Getting kids vaccinated so we don’t see a resurgence in diseases we thought we had eliminated is just one benefit.
And DC, please stop looking at everything through the low level thinking of color and gender. We are more than that and you are as well. God doesn’t look at his children that way…..and perhaps that is why this country is so divided…..because we have individuals like yourself that seek to divideb us by using the colors in a box of crayons and based upon whether we are a man or woman (that’s right, there are 2 genders).
Perhaps this nation is divided because of the people trying to shove their religion down everyone’s throat. See your comment for a datapoint.
This is fantastic. What a great opportunity for these teens.
I agree, Helen!
And perhaps young adult women/women are interested in public health because many issues are women’s health issues, DC. Infant and maternal mortality, health in/equity, and domestic violence, for example. Public health is a very broad and exciting field!
Perhaps this nation is divided because of the people trying to shove their religion down everyone’s throat. See your comment for a datapoint.
“Unspeakable matriarchy dominating education”?
Like, where do you come up with lines like this?
Does the photo make anyone feel excluded. For example, could a male ever imagine a public health career without seeing adequate representation in the photo? Come to think of it – looks there are no Trans people in the photo and nobody who is suffering from an anxiety either. (This is meant to be a humorous comment).
Well good thing there aren’t any public health issues that impact males -like the opioid crisis, suicide at mid-age, contagious dz, obesity, etc. Otherwise they might distrust the advice and direction coming from public health workers outside their “community.” This was the logic applied to underrepresented and underserved communities in the past. Sort of funny to apply it here as well. Diversity does work.