9 Reasons You Should Be in Health Care
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Healthcare careers can provide the challenge, security, and salary you’re looking for in a role, while also fulfilling your humanitarian side. Read on for nine reasons the healthcare industry can offer you the career of your dreams. The variety of occupations and settings in health care allows those in the field to change their environment without necessarily changing careers.

For instance, medical professionals typically work in doctors’ offices or hospitals, but many also work in laboratories, public health agencies, insurance companies, universities, and other varied settings.

 

  1. Job satisfaction

By and large, healthcare workers are satisfied with their jobs and don’t regret their career choices. For example, an AMN Healthcare survey revealed that 83 percent of registered nurses are satisfied with their career choice.

  1. Job security

While legislation will continue to change the healthcare landscape, the Affordable Care Act has increased the demand for health care, thus leading to the need for more workers in the industry. Likewise, as people age, they typically require more medical care, and America’s Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age by the millions every year.

  1. Positions for all education levels

While doctors still spend several years hitting the books, health care has many other careers that require far less education. In fact, you can find many positions that pay well and don’t require a bachelor’s degree. For instance, to become a surgical technologist, you only need a postsecondary non-degree award, and the job pays $22.68 an hour.

  1. Explosive growth

Jobs in health care are projected to grow 18 percent by 2026, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Here are the expected growth rates for a few of the fastest-growing medical professions:

  • Home health aide – 41 percent
  • Nurse practitioner – 31 percent
  • Physical therapist assistant – 30 percent
  • Dental hygienist – 20 percent
  1. Free schooling

Within the healthcare industry, you can find many programs that repay student loans in exchange for a certain number of years of service. For example, the National Health Service Corps asks medical residents to work for two or three years in an underserved area of the country in a primary care specialty. In exchange, the federal government will then repay as much as $120,000 of participants’ student loans.

  1. Generous salaries

The burgeoning demand for health care has more benefits than just job security – medical careers also pay well. The 2017 median pay for physicians and surgeons is $208,000, while nurse practitioners can make $110,930 per year, according to the BLS. As mentioned before, even healthcare careers that don’t require advanced degrees can still pay a pretty penny.

  1. Flexibility

The flexibility of healthcare careers is especially attractive to job seekers. Geographically, healthcare workers can go almost anywhere they want, provided they have the appropriate licensure. Some programs, like Doctors without Borders, send medical professionals abroad to deliver services where they are needed the most. Similarly, traveling nurses receive assignments all over the United States and receive benefits, such as relocation and housing allowances.

  1. Variety

The variety of occupations and settings in health care allows those in the field to change their environment without necessarily changing careers. For instance, medical professionals typically work in doctors’ offices or hospitals, but many also work in laboratories, public health agencies, insurance companies, universities, and other varied settings.

  1. The chance to make a difference

Although jobs in the medical field can be stressful because lives are often at stake, the profession is unquestionably rewarding. Healthcare professionals are desperately needed, and they use their education and training to better people’s lives.

Source: careerbuilder.com

In Minority Communities, Doctors Are Changing Minds About Vaccination
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Many Black and Hispanic Americans mistrust government officials, and instead have turned to physicians they have long known.

Like many Black and rural Americans, Denese Rankin, a 55-year-old retired bookkeeper and receptionist in Castleberry, Ala., did not want the Covid-19 vaccine.

Ms. Rankin worried about side effects — she had seen stories on social media about people developing Bell’s palsy, for example, after they were vaccinated. She thought the vaccines had come about too quickly to be safe. And she worried that the vaccinations might turn out to be  (Image Credit – The New York Times)                                      another example in the government’s long history of medical experimentation on Black people.

Then, one recent weekend, her niece, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University in Atlanta, came to town. Dr. Zanthia Wiley said one of her goals in making the trip was to talk to friends and family back home in Alabama, letting them hear the truth about the vaccines from someone they knew, someone who is Black.

Across the country, Black and Hispanic physicians like Dr. Wiley are reaching out to Americans in minority communities who are suspicious of Covid-19 vaccines and often mistrustful of the officials they see on television telling them to get vaccinated. Many are dismissive of public service announcements, the doctors say, and of the federal government.

Continue to the original article at The New York Times. 

Hispanic and Latino health and the Affordable Care Act
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The ACA has narrowed racial gaps in access to health care, but Latinos are still nearly three times more likely to be uninsured.

As a little girl, I would accompany my immigrant mother to her numerous doctor’s appointments; I didn’t know it, but at the time, she was fighting a brain tumor. By the tender age of 7, I had translated most medical terminology from English to Spanish; see, my mother did not speak any English and when she went to the doctor’s office, I was her tiny translator, not that I knew much, but I tried my best.

By the time I was 13, I understood what was happening to my mother and knew how to discuss her symptoms with all her physicians, including neurologists and radiologists. I had my mom buy me a Spanish-to-English medical dictionary and became well-versed in the processes that happen at every one of my mother’s appointments: blood pressure check, weight check, neurological tests. When I moved out of my parent’s home at the age of 24, she stopped going to her doctor’s appointments regularly and chose which doctors she “felt” like going to at the time. I have heard all of the excuses in the book: “I don’t know if they will have an interpreter,” “I feel fine, why do I need to go?” and the most recent one, “I don’t have the money to go to the doctor.”

Read the full article at Benefits Pro.

How Rita Moreno found dignity and strength in her ‘West Side Story’ role
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“Interestingly, the character of Anita became my role model after all those years,” said the Puerto-Rican actress and Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony recipient.

In the past decade or so, Rita Moreno has received multiple lifetime achievement awards and would probably receive even more — except that she’s too busy working.

The actress, who turns 89 on Dec. 11, is one of the few people to win an EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. She’s also received the 2004 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the 2009 National Medal of Arts, the 2013 SAG Life Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors in 2015, and a Peabody Career Achievement in 2019, to name a few.

                                                                                                                              (Image credit – Herbert Dorfma/NBC News)

But she has no intention of resting on her laurels. In “Rita Moreno: A Memoir,” she expresses frustration at not working more. “I still feel that way!” she told Variety shortly after the book came out in 2013. She is always busy; if it’s not film, “I do theater, I do television, concerts, I do talks, lectures I do a lot of fundraising as a performer.”

Her 70-year career covers the spectrum of entertainment, including radio, theater, basic-cable, movies (both under the studio system and in the indie world), and now streaming.

Read the full article at NBC News.

Why Many Latinos Are Wary Of Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine
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NPR’s Rachel Martin talks to Dr. Eva Galvez about the issue of vaccination hesitancy among the Latino community she serves in Oregon. Polling shows Latinos are less likely to trust a vaccine.

New data from the CDC this month continues to show the disproportionate impact the pandemic is having on certain communities. Those numbers show that Latinos are being hospitalized at almost four times the rate of whites. Polling has also shown that Latinos are less likely to trust a vaccine.

 (Photo Credit – BBC News)

So why is that? I spoke with Dr. Eva Galvez. She’s a family physician at Virginia Memorial Health Center in Hillsboro, Ore. Most of her patients are first and second-generation Latinos.

EVA GALVEZ: There continues to be just a lack of accurate information available to the community about the vaccine. So in other words, information that we are reading in different media platforms is often not in a language or at a literacy level that my patients can understand. So definitely this leads to many questions and also leads to much misinformation. What often happens is when people don’t have access to accurate information, they rely on other platforms, word of mouth, social media, and those are often not accurate. And we have seen anti-immigrant rhetoric. We’ve seen anti-immigrant policies. And there’s just mistrust, I think, of the federal government. And so when you have what they perceive as a federal government trying to bring a vaccine to the community, naturally there is some mistrust, and there is fear.

MARTIN: Do you see that fear and distrust across the board, or is it more acute among undocumented immigrants?

GALVEZ: We have a lot of mixed-status families, so even families who maybe have the documents to be in this country, they’re worried about grandma or aunt or uncle or Mom and Dad who don’t have documents. So, really, this fear is being seen whether or not people have legal status.

MARTIN: Is there a particular anecdote you can share, a conversation you’ve had with someone who was honest about those fears or concerns?

GALVEZ: Yeah, absolutely. It was a family who came in to get care for their children. And so the visit really was not a visit for Mom and Dad. But Mom asked me if the vaccine was safe, and she had heard some information on a social media platform that the vaccine had long-term side effects and that the vaccine was actually risky. And then she asked me, how can you ensure that this vaccine is safe? And then what I told her was that we had done very many studies, and it had gone through a rigorous process and that, based on my reading, that it was safe. And what I conveyed to her was that all vaccines have side effects, but that the risks of the side effects generally are less than the benefits of getting the vaccine. And that was how we ended up leaving the conversation. So she didn’t tell me that she was going to get the vaccine, but she certainly seemed open to the vaccine. And so it’s really fighting two battles here. One is trying to convince people that the vaccine is safe and that it is important, but at the same time is also trying to rectify all of those messages that they have been getting from other sources. So these conversations really do take time.

Continue to the full article at NPR.

Latino jobs have taken a hit with Covid. Here are some career-building strategies
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The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Americans’ career trajectories have varied by industry, geography, and ethnicity, with Latinos among the most heavily impacted.

According to the 2020 American Family Survey, 53% of Hispanic respondents reported a career change since the pandemic began; meanwhile, a troubling 41% report a decline in income. Harnessing that hunger for gainful employment, or a stronger career can yield results. We spoke with Caroline Castrillon, career coach and founder of CorporateEscapeArtist to discuss the paths all Americans impacted by the Covid recession can take to rebuild their careers and reinvent their futures.

While employers expect you to openly share your accomplishments, this can be awkward for some people who feel they are being arrogant, says Castrillon. “Remember, this is your time to shine. Don’t be shy,” she says. “Share what your individual contributions were and quantify the results. If you don’t do a good job of highlighting your achievements, employers will assume that you don’t have anything significant to discuss.”

Continue to the NBC News to read the full article.

These Are The Most At-Risk Jobs Post-Pandemic
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While many jobs were put on hold during the pandemic, there are a few that may not come back—ever.

Glassdoor’s Workplace Trends 2021 report finds that job postings for discretionary health services—or those that are elective and can be postponed during a pandemic—are down dramatically. The most at-risk job is that of audiologist, for which job listings on Glassdoor declined 70% during the pandemic.

Angela Shoup, president of the American Academy of Audiology, says she’s heard reports of  audiologists being placed on long furloughs, as well as some who’ve closed their private practices and retired early this year. Many recent graduates looking for jobs in audiology have been told that larger practices are not hiring, she says.

Job postings for opticians and physical therapists saw a similar fate, down 61% and 40%, respectively. There’s also been a shortage of administrative and lower-skilled office roles. Jobs for event coordinators are down 69%, making it the second most at-risk job post-pandemic. Similarly, openings for executive assistants are down 55%, human resources generalists are down 37% and receptionists are down 35%, as most offices have been closed.

Unsurprisingly, positions for personal services workers have also plummeted. Beauty consultants took the hardest hit, with jobs down 53%. Jobs for valets were down 51%.

“[These are jobs] where Covid-19 is in the driver’s seat,” says Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor’s chief economist. “People are not going to return to their nail salons or get discretionary LASIK eye surgeries or go to in-person events until the virus is under control.”

Discretionary healthcare, event and personal-service jobs won’t disappear altogether after the pandemic, but they will certainly be slow to come back, he says. However, he thinks it’s possible some jobs may be lost forever.

Continue on to Forbes to read the complete article.

 

5 Current Keys to Success When Searching for a Job
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By Debra Wheatman  

I have probably received more questions on the topic of conducting a job search in the current climate than I have on anything else in 2020. When the restrictions were first enacted, many people decided to go into a self-imposed holding pattern and shelve their job searches.

However, ongoing restrictions and contraction in the job market render this a nonviable option. So how do you search for a job amid the pandemic? Here are five strategies that can help you succeed.

Network. Networking remains the best way to find employment opportunities. The only difference is that networking has become almost entirely virtual. The good news is that you have more access to diverse networks than ever. Get on LinkedIn or Meetup and find people with common interests. Join groups that appeal to your goals, and interact with people and share your knowledge. Remember, don’t go into networking with the message, “I need a job. What can you do for me?” It’s a two-way street. Don’t just take; give as well.

Up your technology game. Have you been on a videoconference where someone’s Wi-Fi keeps cutting out? How about someone with poor lighting, making it look like they live in a basement, hiding from the feds? Yeah, no. Not a good look. Upgrade your internet, invest in a good webcam if your computer is sub-par, and consider a light ring to provide balanced lighting and show you in, well, the best light.

Look the part. We know you’re working from home. That doesn’t mean that you should show up for your virtual interview, looking as if you just rolled out of bed or came in from working in the garden. Dress the same as you would for an in-person interview.

Be specific about your goals. This is good advice outside of the pandemic as well. But it will be even more important than ever that you have an articulated and defined vision not only of what you’re looking for in your next role but what you can do for a potential employer. Why? Because everyone is on edge. And providing clarity will put people at ease and engender trust.

Manage your expectations. I’m hearing that the entire job search process is taking even longer than it was before restrictions when people were still doing in-person interviews. I think this is probably due to the heightened focus on proceeding with caution. A client recently had a first video screen with a new company and was told that the process would entail a one-on-one with the hiring manager, a series of four to five additional meetings with other team members, a presentation to the team, another one-on-one with the hiring manager, and finally, a meeting with the CEO.

Most importantly, be confident and proactive. Remember my number one piece of advice—job searching is not about YOU; it’s about how you can help an employer solve a pressing business problem. Approach your job search with that in mind, and tailor your tactics to reflect the current reality. Finally, the shining light at the end of the tunnel: it’s not a question of if you get a new role—only when.

Source: Careersdoneright.com

Putting the AISES Family into a Family Practice Career
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By Don Motanic

It takes a special village to raise a Native doctor, and in the case of Kelsey Motanic, Umatilla, and Coeur d’Alene, the village includes the AISES family.

As her father, I can take credit for starting her AISES family connection. I’ve been a member since 1981 and served on the Board of Directors (1999–2002), the Winds of Change Editorial Advisory Council (2001), the Local Planning Committees for several National Conferences (1988, 1993, 2000, and 2009), and the AISES Finance Committee (2000–2020). I also was an exhibitor at the National Conference Career Fair for more than three decades (1986–2019). My wife, and Kelsey’s mother, Mary Beth, a registered nurse, has also been a part of the AISES family volunteering at National Conferences. During the 1980s, most exhibitors were engineering companies, and health care students used to stop by my forestry exhibit to thank me for being about the environment. Happily, these days all exhibitors, including the engineering companies, have an environmental and sustainability focus.

Kelsey first encountered the AISES family when she was a 12-year-old doing her homework in a room at the BPA Building in Portland during a 2000 National Conference planning meeting. At the 2009 National Conference, she heard Dr. Bret Benally Thompson talk about his experience as a medical student and doctor, which helped inspire her to apply to and complete medical school at the University of New Mexico. During that conference, she also sat next to John Herrington, and they compared their GRE and MCAT preparation exams toward the Ph.D. and MD they would achieve, respectively. Kelsey also received her Sequoyah medal at that 2009 conference. I worked with Shirley Jaramillo on National Conferences at that time, and Shirley would become an extended family member for Kelsey in Albuquerque while she completed her four years of medical school.

The importance of our AISES family circle was underscored this spring when Kelsey finished her three-year medical residency with the Seattle Indian Health Board at Swedish Medical Center. During her last three years, she reconnected with a mentor, Polly Olsen, Yakama, who had helped Kelsey apply to medical school programs in 2009. Kelsey found out that Polly’s family picked huckleberries in the same fields as my family. This AISES family reconnection is also multi-generational because Polly’s uncle was the late Richard “Dick” French, an Ely S. Parker Award recipient and the person who inspired me to become involved with the AISES family in 1981.

Kelsey spent the last challenging months of her residency working the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle at the hospitals while also living next to Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (a focus of international news during the George Floyd protests). She found out that I had also lived in that same Capitol Hill area while I attended the University of Washington during the time of the Fort Lawton Native Occupation and the 1975 George Jackson Brigade attack on the Seattle watershed. I was then a firefighter for the City of Seattle and on the watch for any Brigade attack. 

Kelsey and I were both first responders living and working in the same location during historic Seattle events, but nearly 45 years apart, and we’ve both lived to share our stories. Kelsey will continue putting “family” into family practice because she will start her own practice near family as a physician with the Puyallup Tribe. 

For the past 25 years, Don Motanic, Umatilla and Coeur d’ Alene, has been a technical specialist for the Intertribal Timber Council. Motanic spent most of his career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, starting in 1978 after receiving his forest engineering degree at the University of Washington. He was a forest engineer at Yakama and a forest manager with his Umatilla Tribe as well as with the Spokane Tribe, where his mother grew up. He’s been president and vice president of the Lower Columbia/Willamette River AISES Professional Chapter (1995–2020) and lives in Brush Prairie, Wash.

Reprinted by permission from Winds of Change © 2020 by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

Employees Share Views on Current and Post-Pandemic Workplace
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Robert Half conducted a study on employees’ views regarding the pandemic workplace.

“Our lives have changed as a result of COVID-19, including how we work,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half.

“When companies open their doors again, ‘business as usual’ will be different. Employers and their teams have been resourceful in operating from dispersed locations, and there are going to be important lessons learned that will guide future collaboration.”

Silver Linings
Of employees surveyed, 77 percent said they are currently working from home. These workers were asked, “Which of the following positive sentiments have you felt with respect to your job in the past several weeks?”

The top responses included:

I realize my job is doable from home. 63%
My work-life balance has improved due to lack of a commute. 60%
I’m more comfortable using technology. 43%
I’ve grown closer to colleagues. 20%
I’ve grown closer to my boss. 19%
*Multiple responses were permitted.

 
Parents doing their job from home were more likely than peers without children to report having better work-life balance, becoming more tech savvy and deepening relationships with their colleagues, survey results show. In addition, 78 percent of all employees surveyed think they will be more prepared to support or cover for coworkers who need to be physically absent when staff begin returning to the office.

Concerns About Returning to the Office
According to the research, professionals feel some apprehension about going back to their typical workspace:

  • 56 percent of professionals worry about being in close proximity to colleagues.
  • 74 percent would like to work remotely more frequently than before the outbreak. More parents (79 percent) than those without children (68 percent) expressed this preference.
  • At the same time, 55 percent believe it will be more difficult to build strong relationships with colleagues if teams aren’t in the same building as much.

Business Protocol in a Post-Pandemic World
Once stay-at-home guidelines ease, the workplace will likely evolve. Of office professionals surveyed:

  • 72 percent will rethink shaking hands with business contacts.
  • 72 percent plan to schedule fewer in-person meetings.
  • 61 percent anticipate spending less time in common areas in the office.
  • Nearly 6 in 10 will reconsider attending in-person business events (59 percent) and traveling for business (57 percent).
  • 73 percent think there will be fewer in-person social and team-building activities with colleagues.

Staff expect their organization to adapt to the new normal. Workers were asked, “As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which of the following measures do you think your company needs to take?” Their responses:

Allow employees to work from home more frequently 79%
Have better cleaning procedures 79%
Hold fewer in-person meetings and trainings 70%
Stagger employees’ work schedules 55%
Require employees to wear masks 52%
Change the office layout 46%
 *Multiple responses were permitted.

McDonald added, “Managers should use any time of transition to reassess priorities and make meaningful change that improves the work environment. The pandemic is causing fear and anxiety, and employees will want reassurance their employer is prioritizing health and safety.”

Source: PRNewswire

Sacramento Hispanic Chamber launches tech assistance program for minority-owned businesses
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The Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is launching a wide lineup of resources and technical assistance to help minority-owned businesses during the pandemic.

The chamber announced the launch of its “#JuntosSacramento” campaign, which translates to “together Sacramento,” on Monday. The campaign is aimed at bringing together all corners of Sacramento’s Latino community, which includes immigrants and people who draw their heritage from a mix of countries and languages, said Cathy Rodriguez Aguirre, CEO of the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber.

Minority-owned businesses have been among the hardest hit during the pandemic, as they may have lower cash reserves and less access to banking resources to buoy their businesses.

The effort includes one-on-one consulting, resources on digital marketing and financial planning during the pandemic and job training programs.

The Sacramento Hispanic Chamber received about $615,000 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, dollars for the initiative. Those dollars arrived from a $3 million grant that the Sacramento Inclusive Economic Development Collaborative received from the city of Sacramento. The Sac IEDC was formed two years ago, and includes 15 groups within it like the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber and several property business improvement districts.

“Hispanic and minority owned businesses have been a historic pillar in the growth of Sacramento and our mission is to help the region recover from the impacts of Covid-19 by supporting the community through increased services and new, innovative programs,” Rodriguez Aguirre said, in a prepared statement. “Through our partnership with SAC IEDC we will be able to help foster more business development and spur economic growth.”

The program includes a free, six-part webinar series on topics like digital marketing, financial planning and disaster preparedness. The series starts on Oct. 23 and runs every other Friday, and will be conducted in Spanish and English.

Continue to the Sacramento Business Journal to read the full article.

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