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Russell Sage College held its inaugural ICAN Healthcare Summit on October 25 at the Armory Building on its Albany campus. The event was focused on solutions to building a more diverse healthcare workforce and the role that plays in creating better health outcomes for communities.
Headlining the event was Joel Bervell, a social media star known as the “Medical Mythbuster,” who is finishing up med school and has more than 1 million followers. Bervell has appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and has been featured in The New York Times.
Bervell talked to the audience – a mix of healthcare professionals, educators, high school students in Russell Sage College’s I Can Achieve a Nursing Degree (ICAN) program, and faculty – about racial disparities in the medical field and racial bias in medicine that lead to poor health outcomes.
“What I hope you will take away is the importance of having people who are diverse in medicine, why all of you students that are sitting there are needed in the healthcare space right now, and how all of you have the power to raise your voice to make a difference,” he said.
According to the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation dedicated to promoting a high-performing, equitable healthcare system, “Research shows that a diverse and representative healthcare workforce improves patients’ access to care, their perceptions of the care they receive, and their health outcomes, especially for patients of color.”
The fund also reports that, “When Black patients are treated by Black doctors, they are more satisfied with their health care, more likely to have received the preventive care they needed in the past year, and are more likely to agree to recommended care like blood tests and flu shots.”
But according to the National Center for Health Workforce, Black non-Hispanic RNs were the smallest proportion of the nursing workforce at just under 8% followed by Hispanic RNs at 10%. By comparison, white, non-Hispanic RNs made up 73% of the nursing population.
The ICAN program at Russell Sage encourages underrepresented youth to pursue careers in nursing and other healthcare roles as a way to improve community health and health equity. The program is currently working with two high schools in Albany – the Albany Leadership Charter School for Girls and Green Tech.
“By educating and encouraging healthcare professionals, educators, families, and youth, ICAN creates a comprehensive support network for future BIPOC nursing and healthcare professionals,” said Geoff Miller, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Russell Sage and ICAN program manager.
Tomorrow, October 26, Russell Sage will host a free STEM Saturday fair for kids in grades K-12 from 9 a.m. to noon in the Armory Building on its Albany campus. The fair will provide hands-on activities related to the heart to inspire students to consider the healthcare field.
The ICAN Summit is sponsored by Highmark Blue Shield, the Innovation Partnership (between Albany County and MVP Health Care), CDPHP, Business for Good, and Thrive@Russell Sage.