Historically, and for numerous reasons, communities of color have often had a level of mistrust in the healthcare system. One way to bridge gaps and grow trust and understanding is to attract more People of Color into medical professions.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 7.6 percent of all students enrolled in med schools identified as Black or African-American.
For many, the road to enrollment poses challenges. But one Niagara Falls native proves they can be overcome, and educators today are exploring ways to expose and encourage students who may not think a medical or healthcare career is within their reach.
“I was exploring fields within health care. I first started out being interested in dentistry. And I worked for a small dental practice, I think Schwartz and Gideon, just observing there when I was in high school,” said Dr. Chauncey Brown, Jr., a 2005 graduate of Niagara Falls High School. “And then when I went to undergrad, that's when I was just general pre-medicine.”
After college, he taught at Philadelphia area high schools for about three years, but then revisited his interest in a medical career. While researching the options, he determined optometry was right for him, and returned to school to pursue that field.
At Niagara Falls High School, Brown showed talent in music and science. He had the notice and support of science teachers. But he admits while enrolled in Honors and Advanced Placement courses, he often felt out of place as a young Black man.
“It was mostly affluent, and White. So if anything, sometimes it felt a little bit more of a barrier, trying to advance myself and those kind of situations,” he said. “I kind of felt like the black sheep of the class, if you will. Not just because of my actual color, but just also the culture of being affluent, and coming from a background where we're not affluent, you know, where it was low income.”
He’d deliver papers in the morning, and work odd jobs after school, sometimes to be able to afford field trips, sometimes just to help the family. Brown recalls his family facing short-term barriers including worry whether they had enough money for food, or to keep up to date with utility bills.
Economic disadvantage is one of the reasons many students may feel a career such as medicine is within reach. For many, it’s also because they simply weren’t encouraged in the first place. Niagara Falls School Superintendent Mark Laurrie says they’re working to change that.
“I think in an urban setting like Niagara Falls, the biggest challenge is that it's not always in the schema of a child to believe they can be in the medical profession, be it a doctor or a nurse or some other profession medically. And I think that goes across a lot of fields,” Laurrie said.
In the past, Niagara Falls alumni honored had mostly been White, or if Black, most likely were honored for their athletic accomplishments. The district has taken steps to change that and give students of color more easily visible role models. Niagara Street Elementary School, for example, will be renamed in September in honor of Bloneva Bond, a local civil rights activist and the first-ever Black woman to serve on the Niagara Falls Board of Education.
“It's the reason why we have distinguished alumni adorning the walls of our school. It's the reason why we've gone to a Career Pathways program in high school that will soon be brought down to elementary school, so that once kids get exposure and know who and what they can be, then they have something to work and shoot for,” Laurrie said.
And there is talent within Niagara Falls public schools, all the way down to the elementary school level. Some STEM students recently helped the Niagara Falls Public Library dedicate a new “maker’s space” within the library system’s main branch.
The district maintains partnerships including one with Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, through which students may be invited to shadow doctors, nurses, X-ray technicians or other medical professionals. Under a partnership with Daemen College in Amherst, medical educators come directly to the high school.
“We've got a series of classes that we actually teach up at the high school,” said Dr. Greg Nayor, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Daemen. “We partner with their faculty, our faculty come there and teach it, those students get a transcript from Daemen, with a grade and the education. Daemen pays for the faculty member and any kind of ancillary cost of the course. Niagara Falls actually paid for some equipment, computer equipment and other materials, and support of the faculty.”
When face-to-face interactions can’t happen, the Niagara Falls School District has utilized virtual reality goggles to allow them to watch surgeries in progress.
“We broadcast a virtual surgery a couple of years ago with our television studio. That was a real eye opener for kids wanting to get into the medical field,” Laurrie said. “Giving them those experiences actually brings them to places they never would get to. I think it’s really what education has to become.”
“When it comes to looking at numbers of diversity in medical fields and health professions, it comes down to opportunities before they even get to college, you know, our schools at the high school level, primary and secondary,” Nayor said. “We need to be make sure that those institutions that have more resources are more diversified. We need to make sure that students who are coming from underserved populations and underrepresented areas have just as much opportunities as those people who are coming from affluent areas and affluent school districts, and I think if you were looking at it clearly, that's not the case.”
Daemen’s pre-med enrollment by underserved populations, according to Nayor, is about 15 percent, including an estimated 12 to 13 percent by those identifying as Black or African-American. He says the numbers, though above the national average, create opportunities to build upon them.
In addition to inspiration, affordability is another barrier. Most colleges offer some form of financial assistance, and Laurrie says they’re working to guide students in his district in researching and applying for aid for which they may be eligible.
Dr. Brown earned a scholarship for his undergraduate studies at Syracuse, but admits he nearly didn’t apply, feeling he wasn’t worthy. It was the support of his friend’s family that led him to apply.
Meanwhile, Brown did have someone to look up to as a child, his own pediatrician, who was Black. He appreciates he may now be an inspiration to his young patients.
“In a way, I'm able to motivate them to stay in school, because the dropout rate can increase a little bit with some of the demographics, particularly in the areas that I taught and where one of my practices are,” he said. “And so I'll have conversations outside of them being here for their their vision, and ask them how's everything going in school, you know, how are grades going, and give them a little bit of feedback of what I had when I was a student, and also when I was a teacher, to try and to navigate this situation.”
Brown says in addition to encouraging STEM careers, it’s important to encourage kids to develop business skills, noting that while his occupation is looked upon as a practice, it’s a business as well.
