LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An effort to grow our healthcare workforce in Southern Nevada is being led not by doctors or hospitals but by a student.
She launched a program just over a year ago, and it's now in schools all over the valley, helping inspire the next generation of local doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals.
I spoke with that determined young woman about the program's success and her plans for the future.
It started in a single classroom at Green Valley High School. Now, it's turning into a movement that's growing across the Las Vegas valley.
"I've known since I was a little girl that I wanted to be in the medical field," said student Brianna Shaw.
Shaw, 18 years old, launched a medical society at the start of 2024.
Her goal? To give students like herself real access to the world of healthcare and help fix the provider shortage impacting our community.
"I know that we have, you know, this big healthcare workforce shortage and I know there's also kids like me who are also interested in the medical field. But we don't always get these opportunities to actually see what it's like," she said.
WATCH | Hope for Nevada's healthcare shortage: More graduates are staying in the Silver State
Since then, medical society chapters have launched at six other local high schools.
Wednesday afternoon, I was there as nearly 100 students gathered at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health to celebrate how far the program has come.
"We've gotten to tour medical schools, colleges, hospitals," Shaw said. "We also get to talk to many experienced physicians, too."
Local healthcare leaders, including Las Vegas HEALS CEO Diego Trujillo, are now backing the students, helping connect them with real facilities and professionals.
“So what our goal has been — bringing together health care — has been to knock that barrier down and facilitate experiences for them," Trujillo said. "I've always been focused on how do we grow them here because the roots are already here… the families are here. What they needed is a clear path on how to get to where they want to go.”
More about Las Vegas HEALS: Las Vegas nonprofit helps fill health care gaps in community amid shortages
"Right now, there are so many issues when it comes to our health care here in Southern Nevada: doctor shortages, nurse shortages, providing specialty care, residency programs. I can name so many. How do you want to help those issues?" I asked.
"I have so many goals, and the thing with this club that I love the most is that — it is this club that shows me that anything is possible with perseverance, you can dream big and anything is."
For Shaw, she said making a difference means staying right here where she was born and raised.
"I think it's really important because it always starts with one," she said. "And it has to be one person to stay — can make all the difference. This is, you know, my home."
