CVTC nursing student couples passion for care with AHEC Scholars program

Chippewa Valley Technical College

It didn’t take being accepted into a scholars program for Isabella Smith to recognize her passion for helping rural and underserved populations in her community.

Smith, 21, has been volunteering at the Chippewa Valley Free Clinic before her time with the Wisconsin Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Scholars program. When the Chippewa Falls woman learned of the opportunity a year ago in her nursing classes at Chippewa Valley Technical College, the coursework spoke to her heart.

“That’s really something I love,” Smith said. “This was another opportunity to learn more about underserved and disadvantaged communities.”

Hollie Moe, program manager for the north-central region of Wisconsin AHEC), said they offer a variety of education and training programs designed to increase the diversity and distribution of the healthcare workforce in order to enhance healthcare quality and delivery in rural and medically underserved communities throughout the state.

“We know that there is a health care workforce shortage that is impacting the entire country. However, we also know the shortage is impacting rural and underserved communities, if not more, at least in a different way,” Moe said. “There are unique challenges that our rural and underserved communities are facing. That’s really the purpose of the work that we do, and we do it through education and training programs.”

So far, Smith has done a deep dive into Hmong culture and health care and an immersive experience with Amish and Mennonite communities in the Marshfield area.

“It opened my eyes to the alternative methods of delivering care,” Smith said. “In (the Chippewa Valley) we don’t really worry about that too much because the hospitals are pretty centralized … hospitals are pretty readily available.”

Smith said in Amish and Mennonite communities, practitioners make house calls and “meet people where they are. I think a lot of the health care inequity that we see is because we don’t meet people where they are.”

As Smith finishes her last year in the nursing program at CVTC and the AHEC Scholars program, her eyes are wide open to identifying and helping to fix the health challenges of underserved communities.

“There’s a really big push for cultural competency in health care in all fields,” she said. “But I don’t think we do a very good job of giving people the opportunity or practice at it. That’s what this was, and it was really great.”

Wise beyond her years

At the age of 21, Isabella Smith is pushing herself to think outside of herself.

She grew up in Chippewa Falls, a city of about 15,000 people with little diversity. But that hasn’t stopped Smith from opening her eyes to underserved, often rural communities only miles from her own.

Smith said she’s knowledgeable about other communities and cultures because she took it upon herself to learn.

“That’s knowledge I’ve chosen to have,” she said as a matter of fact. “I really like and want to pursue working with underserved communities. That’s my passion. I’ve learned about it because I’ve prioritized it.”

Smith isn’t getting ahead of herself when thinking about the future. She plans to graduate from the nursing program in 2025 and is considering all options. She knows she will follow her passion.

“Working with underserved populations is really my love. I would like to find myself in a primary care setting to work on preventative care,” she said. “I would like to see people before they’re sick and in the hospital. So that’s the hope. I’ll see where I land.”

Wisconsin AHEC currently is accepting health professions students for its seventh cohort of AHEC Scholars. To learn more, visit https://ahec.wisc.edu/scholars/ or contact Hollie Moe at hmoe@nahec-wi.org.