Increasing racial diversity in Greater Lansing health care workforce is goal of 'Becoming Visible'

A partnership between Greater Lansing's largest institutions of education and medicine survived the global COVID-19 pandemic with one goal in mind: diversifying the health care industry.

Piloted within the diverse Lansing School District with the aim of training women of color to become tomorrow's health care workers, Becoming Visible reintroduced itself earlier this month by offering free sports physicals Aug. 2 at Sexton High School.

Students at both the high school and college levels were assisting in taking vitals for the physicals and were conscious that, if they stay with it, they could one day naturally help eliminate racial biases in the health care field.

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"The way we wanted to marry Becoming Visible with the free sports clinic was to have our girls actually volunteer to see community public health in action," said Becoming Visible Co-Chair Cheryl Celestin.

Celestin, of Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine, and Loretta Osborn of Lansing Community College started Becoming Visible in 2018. They were inspired by a national initiative to get girls of color into health care and brought together Michigan State University, Lansing Community College, Sparrow Health System and McLaren Greater Lansing to create the program for interested high school students.

About 200 Black girls have attended the organization's conferences since its inception. Becoming Visible held in-person conferences in 2018 and 2019 and transitioned to virtual events when the pandemic hit to explain pathways to becoming physicians and nurses.

"Because we all saw the need to engage what we call underrepresented minorities and learn about health, allied health and medical careers," Celestin said. "And then to address issues that related to unconscious bias and disparities in terms of health and wellness."

Monique Smith said her daughter Josie joined Becoming Visible to take a serious look at a career field that piques her interest. Josie, an East Lansing High School freshman, recently volunteered at Sexton's free sports physicals event.

"She's a debutante, a Jack and Jill teen," Smith said, naming one of the mentoring endeavors her daughter participates in. "But as far as the program, she did connect with the head at MSU, but it hasn't started up yet."

If Josie stays interested in Becoming Visible, she can join other participating high schoolers in wearing scrubs and donning medical equipment.

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Becoming Visible has already impressed others concerned about diverse health care workers.

The Lansing School District is planning to create a career and technical education curriculum for the 2023-24 school year with the help of Becoming Visible, said Nicole Millsap, the district's career and technical education director.

District officials have not shared where the program will be placed.

"At this high school, we're going to have three career pathways if you will," Millsap said. "So one of them will be skilled trades, manufacturing and then the third is going to be health sciences, which is where this collaboration with Becoming Visible fits in so perfectly."

She added that students can build lasting connections with medical professionals that can prove beneficial in students' personal lives, whether it's for health, personal or professional reasons.

Students have told Millsap they've opened up to the medical professionals they've met through Becoming Visible.

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"A lot of students have let me know how much that representation matters and that 'I would have never considered a career in the medical field' until this event or this exposure or being connected to this person," she said.

Sparrow's and McLaren's role in Becoming Visible feeds Millsap's hopes that the school district can one day provide a diverse pool of candidates for two of the region's largest health care providers.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Services 2020 Michigan Nurses Survey, nearly 90% of employed registered nurses identified as white, and 68% of licensed practical nurses identified as white.

"This helps young women of color reach their aspirations of working in the health care field through events, outreach and mentorship programs," said Lori Simon, Sparrow's director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Capital Area College Access Network has participated in previous conferences to educate families about the cost of higher education and how to make it more affordable, Celestin said.

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Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at (517) 267-1344 or knurse@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @KrystalRNurse.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: How one group is working to diversify Greater Lansing's health care workers