 Celebrate With Us
In a short period of time, Pathways Into Health (PIH) has achieved several major accomplishments: Student Success- Ms. Atlanta Begay is Pathways Into Health first Clinical Laboratory Sciences graduate. Ms. Begay enrolled and graduated from the University of North Dakota.
Work-based Learning- With nationally competitive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, PIH is pioneering a work-based learning degree program for frontline public health professionals at two sites in Arizona. This project is a unique collaboration of tribal, Indian Health Service, and university resources.
Health Professions Student Pipeline- PIH, with support from Arizona Area Health Education Center, has completed a national registry of successful student pipeline programs. This registry is providing a database of educational opportunities for AI/AN students located on the Pathways website. Community-Campus Partnership for Health (CCPH) conference- PIH is developing a partnership with CCPH and has agreed to co-sponsor the future 10th Anniversary Conference in April 11-14, 2007 in Toronto, to nurture a growing network of community-campus partnerships that are striving to achieve the systems and policy changes needed to address the root causes of health, social and economic inequalities. The conference, “Mobilizing Partnerships for Social Change,” seeks to build knowledge, skills and actions for achieving healthy and just societies. Pathways Into Health Professional Development Conference- In September of 2006, PIH hosted more than 100 leading education and health care professionals. The conference provided a platform for disseminating the latest research findings in health professions education into practice within programs serving American Indian and Alaska Native Committees. Our 4th annual conference will take place this October 7-9th in Big Sky, MT. Indian Health Service Provider, May 2006- The lack of minority health professionals is deepening the nation’s persistent racial and ethnic disparities. AI/AN students are often required to live far from their homes, and the lack of social support and cultural familiarity promote low enrollment. This lead to the creations of a new educational initiative Pathways Into Health (PIH). PIH is working to create an innovative team-based educations programs for nurses, physicians, public health scientist, pharmacists and other health professions that enrolls AI/AN students from across the Nations, allowing for local professional health education near their home. The Journal of Interprofessional Care has developed a supplemental journal from the Pathways Into Health Professional Development Conference. If you would like to purchase the journal please contact Pathways at
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Clinical Laboratory Sciences (CLS) - Utilizing distance learning technologies, PIH is delivering a clinical laboratory sciences program to AI/AN students who are working at Indian health facilities in Arizona. The program has received approval from the Indian Health Service and is being offered on a national scale. This is the only CLS program being offered in Arizona at this time. Telehealth Technology - PIH has teamed with the T-Health Institute at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix Campus to offer broadband Internet access, as well as broadband multi-site video conferencing, for Arizona students in PIH programs. American Indian students and health care workers can now access health professions degree programs while continuing to work and live in their home communities. Virtual Family
The Pathways into Health nursing initiative proposes to create an innovative curriculum model used by the partnering nursing education programs and offered to all tribal nursing education programs in the nation. This work will be centered on the development of a virtual neighborhood that includes a core family, extended family, and diverse neighbors and friends who experience wellness and illness along the continuum. This web-based “family” will provide the students with the opportunity to develop a knowledge base about health promotion and disease prevention, illness episodes, medical diagnosis that lead to chronic health problems, etc. The community offers experiences with social and public health issues that affect individual well-being. The learning experiences will be situated in a variety of environments that provide the opportunity for the learner to apply knowledge to the specific scenario and to use critical thinking in the specific clinical scenarios. The virtual family’s health experiences will provide immediate relevancy and application of new content and knowledge gained. The virtual family will have two distinct purposes: knowledge acquisition and clinical decision making. The virtual family will create a story – almost a soap opera that allows the student to participate in the journey of healthcare with the family over the course of the four semesters of nursing. Two important aspects of the proposed web-based learning materials are the integration of diversity to support the development of culturally competent care and the integration of interdisciplinary health care to support the development of working on interdisciplinary teams. Students will “practice” making clinical decisions, explore alternate types of thinking, learn about treatment modalities, and evaluate the results of their decisions. As the student progresses through the curriculum, the family is a never-ending story. The student will “get to know the family” and understand the humanistic side of health and illness. Legal and ethical considerations as well as value systems will be integrated throughout the curriculum. Students will have the opportunity to self-reflect about their own values and belief systems and how these affect the care they provide and decisions they make regarding the care of a virtual family member |
Celebration 
