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Ideagen Radio
Ideagen Radio
HOSA - Future Health Professionals, Washington, DC: 2024 "Future of ... Summit"
Ready to be inspired by future healthcare leaders? Join us at the IdeaGen Future of Global Summit in Washington, DC, as we sit down with JC Ramirez, Molly Kirsch, and Henry from the executive council of DC HOSA. Discover JC's deep familial roots in medicine, learn about Molly's unwavering curiosity and passion for science, and hear Henry's powerful story of how HOSA transformed his life as an immigrant from El Salvador. This episode promises to highlight the mission of HOSA in empowering the next generation of healthcare professionals through skill development and meaningful networking opportunities.
In our second segment, we underscore the importance of supporting students in the District of Columbia and the greater DMV area to achieve healthcare equity and accessibility. The DC State HOSA Advisor calls on the community to get involved by providing financial support, internships, and partnerships for local leadership retreats. Tune in to understand how leveraging community expertise can enhance educational experiences, reduce disparities, and prepare students to make a tangible impact on healthcare accessibility and equity. This episode is packed with inspiration, opportunities, and a collective commitment to a brighter future in global health.
Welcome to the IdeaGen Future of Global Summit. Live here in Washington DC. It is so incredible always to be in the presence of the future, the future health professionals. Hosa welcome. I'd like to ask would you kindly introduce yourselves, please?
Speaker 2:Good morning to everyone. My name is JC Ramirez. I am the president for DC HOSA and it is a pleasure, and honor and a privilege to be with you.
Speaker 3:Good morning. My name is Molly Kirsch and I currently serve as the treasurer for DC HOSA and I'm really excited to be here today.
Speaker 4:Good morning. My name's Henry, I run the office of public relation and it's an honor to be here with you guys.
Speaker 1:Well, it's incredible to have HOSA in the house here today at the Idea gen future of global summit. Um, what types of experiences have shaped your journey in becoming members of the dc hosa executive council? Who would like to answer first?
Speaker 2:personally, I've always known that I wanted to be in something medical related, wanted to be in something medical related. Medicine has been something that has been taught in my family for generations and I felt like it wasn't really a hobby more than a call to action for me, seeing how it has been, something rooted in my blood as to say, and to see the effects that it has had not only within my family but within my community as a whole, and knowing that as long as there's humans existing, there will be needs for medicine. So that has really impacted me, because I have a mentality of something long-term. You know, when you think of a career, you don't think of just a nine to five. You don't think of something that you do because you need a paycheck. You think of something that you love, and medicine is something that I love, and so being able to partake in HOSA really was just an opportunity that I couldn't let go of.
Speaker 1:Love it Incredible.
Speaker 3:I haven't always known that I wanted to do something in healthcare, but I've always just been curious about learning how things work and I've always loved science because it had that ability to explain how we work and how the world works. And then at my school our advisor kept raving about this new chapter that he was starting and I had no idea what I was getting into. But joining HOSA, I've been able to have so many amazing opportunities, like being at this conference here, and it's really opened my eyes to the world of health care and how many different ways there are to get involved and how impactful it really is Incredible.
Speaker 4:Okay, hello, good afternoon morning. Hosa has really helped me develop myself in learning how to be a better person and getting an introduction into the medical field. Where I come from is a small country in Central America. I'm an immigrant from El Salvador, so sitting here is a very big privilege for me, because not many people from my country have this opportunity, and HOSA has just given me the right to have my voice heard, being able to be exposed to some of the medical things that I wouldn't be able to do in my home country.
Speaker 1:That is just phenomenal to hear your personal stories and your passion, most importantly about medical professions, and I know that HOSA is helping to develop leaders 300,000 plus students across the world now and with the upcoming International Leadership Conference what an exciting moment in time. And to be sitting here overlooking, really, the world's capital of Washington, bc. It's really my honor and privilege to be here with you all today. So I want to echo that. And so, for someone who's unfamiliar with what HOSA is, would one of you kindly describe in your own words what HOSA's mission is? What is it trying to achieve? Who would like to take that up?
Speaker 3:I'd be happy to is what is it trying to achieve? Who would like to take that up? I'd be happy to. So HOSA is an international organization made of students from middle school to collegiate and it's really designed to empower students to become leaders in the global health community, and they do this in a number of different ways through have competitions with hands on skills. We do a lot of skill development along with those, and they put a really big emphasis on networking opportunities. So, being here talking with you guys and having all of the amazing conferences that we do, Incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1:The organization is changing the world on so many levels, as you all know, and it's helping to develop future healthcare professionals and future healthcare leadership professionals like yourselves. And so what are those future skills that you believe are necessary for the changing health professions and for leaders to adapt and change the world, especially within health care? Who would like to answer that.
Speaker 3:I think a really big one is passion, like having a passion for the industry and to helping people, which is I know another reason a lot of us are here and I think that really and like a dedication to lifelong learning because this field is changing constantly again, with like all the new advancements happening and new diseases like COVID happening I think that people just have to be really passionate about learning and about their dedication towards helping people, to be able to think really critically on how we can best serve people incredible.
Speaker 2:I wanted to add on to what Molly said about lifelong learning. We need to keep in mind that, in a field as wide as medicine is, you need to be as diverse as possible, because you need to understand that not every patient is the same matter of fact. Not one patient is the same as another. Therefore, you might be treating the same illness with the same symptoms, with the same age range to, to even ethnicity being the same, but it's never going to be the same because each individual is distinct.
Speaker 2:And so I think that for the medical field, it is crucial not important, but crucial for caregivers and for doctors to have that diverse knowledge, as Molly was saying, and not only that, but for there to be an awareness between patient and doctors, or patients and caregivers, because I know that personally has been said that to me that when doctors don't reflect who you are, what you look like, you don't trust them. And it's logical and it's believable, because when we want someone to aid us, we want them to understand us. When we want someone to aid us, we want them to understand us, and we need to be aware that that needs to be seen visibly. We need that contact and that reflection. So I think that for doctors to be aware about all types of backgrounds, it is highly important to be able to offer as best equipped aid as possible.
Speaker 1:Incredible perspective. Did you want to say something?
Speaker 4:I agree a lot with what she was saying. Another important thing to me is that being able to like, have patience with the patient, because you know many people have different tempers and really if you have the love for the job then it really won't be hard for you. Because you continue in having the love for the job, then it really won't be hard for you because you continue and having that love for the job that makes people want to come into your office, because many people are scared, because they say, oh, in the hospital they take too long, they treat you bad. So then being able to have that love, charity for the people, really helps develop a closer bond relationship so caring for others, passion always, always things, please.
Speaker 3:I also wanted to say I think another big thing that we really need to work towards is building more trust with the healthcare industry. I think that it's an entire industry designed towards helping people, but I think we're really scaring them away. People are scared to go to the doctor until their injury or their disease gets too like too far advanced and it's too late, and people are turned away because they can't afford it or because they're scared of how they're going to be treated once they get there, and I think that that's really not productive. And I think that's also something really unique about our generation is, I think that we're a lot more open-minded and have the opportunity to really make a better connection and reputation.
Speaker 1:I think for the industry Incredible, and so on. That note. What do you all believe has most helped you grow, both as a student member of HOSA and then also individually as a person?
Speaker 2:For me personally, one of the key aspects that I feel have helped me grow is asking questions, Because I was confined in a mentality that if I didn't know, nobody else probably knew, when that couldn't have been farther from the truth. I felt that if I didn't know who was I to ask others. I felt that if I didn't know who was I to ask others. And asking questions not only helps you find the answers to that question, but it helps produce even more questions. You know, and I feel as if you don't take that first step to say what now? Or what do I do? How do I do it? Where do I go? Then you'll be stuck in the same position.
Speaker 2:I thought of joining OSA. I stumbled for a bit. I didn't want to. I hesitated. My friends were asking me aren't you in it yet? What are you doing? What are you waiting for? I said I don't know, and I don't know what to do because I don't know where I am. Until I decided to ask one of our advisors and I said what is this teach me more about? I asked her what do I do? And, with the help of God, with the help of the people around me and my advisors, and also my arduous work. We're here today, and that is just one of many achievements that I think are to come, and I just that's what I say Ask, ask, ask until you have no more questions, and then ask why you don't have any more questions.
Speaker 1:I love that, love that Please.
Speaker 3:I think something that HOSA has really provided me with that I'm so grateful for is mentorship and being able to have all of these people and our partner organizations really invest in us and invest in teaching us as much as we can on a school day. I think like I just never thought that that would be possible and I think that being in these situations really have opened my eyes and created like even more of a passion for me to follow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Thank you. That's so inspiring and incredible.
Speaker 4:Please Post-it for me has taught me that I also have a voice and I also can be heard, not just from my school or locally. I could be heard internationally through different members, different networking to learning like here today exactly. I learned that I don't. I probably I don't know if I've seen some of you guys before. Some places look familiar, but I feel like being here really gives me the opportunity to know that my voice is heard, that I belong here, that it doesn't matter where I came from or where my roots come from, that I can make a difference as a Latino, as a Hispanic, as an immigrant in this country.
Speaker 1:And that's the final word. Thank you so very much, as I like to say go HOSA. Yeah, and that's the final word. Thank you so very much, as I like to say go HOSA.
Speaker 5:It's really a privilege to be here and I'm really excited. I think some of the things that students have said already, as executive members, is exactly what we need to hear right. This is the call to develop pipelines, to develop partnerships and I think DC HOSA, even though we're in this fantastic place, that does all the right things for as many people as we can.
Speaker 5:There's not enough resources for kids and, as a state advisor in this position now probably nine months DC, hosa is brand new and it's the first time we've had an executive board. So these students have done amazing work and my, my ask and my call to action is really help us develop this pipeline. They, they are ready, they are willing. Um, we need hospitals to engage with us, we need partners to engage with us. We need people to provide internships. We don't have those opportunities and the only way these incredible students will learn anything is if they go to those places and do the thing. Schools within the district do not have those resources. Funding continuously gets taken away and we piecemeal things together and we do incredible stuff. We have hospital beds in our room and we have mannequins, but the educators can only do so much.
Speaker 5:As a full-time educator, my plea for everybody in the District of Columbia and in the DMV is support these kids with the work that really needs to be done.
Speaker 5:Hosa in general meets every one of those sustainability goals.
Speaker 5:Specifically looking at number 17, six, three, 10, nine those are all the goals that POSA does equity, equality, dealing with students from different backgrounds. We're wanting healthcare to be real and tangible for every single person in the United States, but we have to educate our students first and with that education then we can empower and reduce the disparities within the country and around the globe. So, whatever you would like to do, please contact me as the dc state hosa advisor, and if you're in the virginia area or in maryland area, we have advice in every single state who do really hard work every single day. We would would love financial support, we would love internship support, we would love partnerships for our local leadership retreats that we do for these students, because we're not the experts you, the world, are the experts. We just provide and facilitate those moments. So thanks for allowing us to be here and I'm looking forward to having an influx of emails and phone calls to the DC HOSA office or to DC International Public School or DC Public Schools, wherever Come find us.