West Dallas charter school partners with Baylor Scott & White to help students pursue medical careers
DALLAS - School doors are opening wide across North Texas, and many students are being welcomed to new schools.
In West Dallas, there is a new school with a new curriculum that will open students’ eyes to medical career opportunities.
A charter school system partnering with a healthcare system to bring healthcare careers to students in West Dallas may be just what the doctor ordered.
There were happy hallways Tuesday as the founding class of ninth graders walked into the Uplift Heights Healthcare Institute.
The new program is a collaboration between Uplift Education Charter School System and Baylor Scott & White Health.
"We wanted them to have a great overall experience," said Uplift Education CEO Yasmin Bhatia. "Second, we want to make sure that they have an excellent academic experience. Lastly, we are preparing them for a range of careers in healthcare so they have more opportunities than they ever imagined for themselves."
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A $14 million investment by Bloomberg Philanthropies transformed the facility into a mini-medical school.
Phil Kendzior is vice president of workforce development for Baylor Scott & White Health.
"You should have seen what this a year ago and the amount of work that's happened over the past year to make this happen. It looks like a new building," he said. "Just to be able to walk in and see it and to get into the sim labs and see our equipment in it really feels like you're walking into a hospital room or a clinic."
The school hopes to set up students for success in healthcare careers, like Adedoyin Adeyemo.
"I want to pursue the field of healthcare because I just want to help people," he said. "That’s been like a big goal of me for a while, and this just felt like the best opportunity to do that."
It's also an opportunity to fill the prescription for needed healthcare professionals in the future and fulfill personal goals as well.
Ava Jackson wants to be a pediatric surgeon.
"When I was a baby, I was sick," she said. "I was in the hospital for six months. So I like to help babies and things."
Uplift Heights Healthcare Institute hopes to also help their families in the West Dallas community.
"We hope that by being familiar with the healthcare system, it increases trust and increases both student and family awareness around what it takes to be healthy and to be well," Bhatia said.
Students get to pick between four pathways: biomedical science, nursing, healthcare therapeutics or distribution and logistics.