I know that I want to do something more for my community and also for myself.

Could get into nursing.

You can be a doctor, you can get into dental care.

You can kind of do a little bit of everything.

I am excited to see what is next.

This time on Steamworks, we'll look at Nevada's Area Health Education Centers, or AHEC, which partners with academic and medical organizations to train the next generation of health care professionals.

Alexis Kirby manages rural and frontier programs for the University of Nevada's Office of Statewide Initiatives.

Brianna Shaw is studying to become a doctor and getting Up-Close experience through AHEC.

Carly George is using AHECs Aspire program to shadow real medical staff, and Trent Mahler, a social worker, therapist and High Sierra AHEC board member, is helping to teach future mental health professionals.

AHEC stands for Area Health Education Centers, but our main goal is to recruit, train and retain health professional students as they go through their educational journey.

They basically focus on health care, developing and supporting the health care workforce, particularly in underserved or rural areas.

Overall, AHEC really just shows the underlying issues and facts of health care that you should be aware of when you're going to be a health care professional.

Part of what we're doing is we go to different high schools and create programs building up our community health workforce, which is helping people get ready so they can go into the field as soon as they graduate.

We serve as a bridge, and it's not always just us providing resources.

It's us learning about resources within those communities so that we can then connect those students and the professionals.

They also offer a lot of events, volunteering and a lot of opportunities, and it helps open a lot of doors in the health care field.

We want to increase the workforce in all areas, whether it's rural or urban.

We want to increase diversity among our workforce and really focus on that interprofessional collaboration between our health professional students.

And we want to increase access to care and more equitable care.

Our K through 12 program is designed for high school students who are interested in going into health care.

Our Student Ambassador program is designed for a brand new college students who are sophomores and freshmen.

And then our AHEC scholars program is for students who are already in their health professional careers.

And this just helps them supplement their education as they are continuing on.

We got cultural competency programs.

We have our community health workforce initiatives.

We're really trying to build up those skills for people to get into the community and continue to work, and we connect with a lot of people in our community to see what they're looking for, to try and bridge that to these people that are coming through the program, because we want to give them what they need and not what we think works.

It provides this access to work and employment that not a lot of other programs provide a skilled trades that they can go out and get into and get working in our community once they graduate, once they are done with these programs, kind of right away with Ahrq.

It was such an amazing experience.

We got to actually try on real scrubs.

We got to go into the operating rooms, and I was there with a bunch of other kids my age.

I was also there with doctors and nurses.

That tangible experience is what showed me that this goal is very doable.

Our aspire program, it's specifically designed for rural high school seniors who are interested in going into any health related profession.

We're teaching them how to develop resumes and cover letters so that they can apply for jobs.

Apply for scholarships to apply for college.

Part of the Aspire program was actually to go and shadow.

I shadowed a sonography radiologist technician.

I also was opened up to the world of X-ray and the other kind of radiology technician jobs that that Battle Mountain offere You really get the raw experience and you learn a lot more, and that's what's going to stick with you the most.

Every single session.

We have a health professional talk where we have a health professional in the community come and introduce themselves to the students.

They're all in different careers just to give them an idea of what's out there.

I've gotten so much insight and so much advice from so many different doctors of so many different fields.

So we get to know things like what their day to day is, their journey.

Having that access to different people and having a community that is kind of connected through AHEC gives people kind of this hub where they can talk to different people in these different professions and really start to narrow.

In which area do I want to focus in which thing is going to be good for me?

You can really make sure that you know your route because you've tried this, you've tried that.

You get exposure in a lot of different things, and that's how you know for sure what aligns with you.

It really helped me decide on the career path, and I think that I would not know the information that I know from the aspire and the student ambassador program if it wasn't for this AHEC progr I just really like how encompassing it is of all of these different professions that we can pursue.

This isn't tailored to just like one side of health care.

It's kind of wide open to everybody.

It's good to see the students that you help keep going and keep pushing and are actually going into fields that they were aspiring to, and you help them from the very beginning and they're doing great.

I'm really thrilled that I found the aspire program, and being a part of the AHEC program has really just inspired me to want to turn this into a career, because that gave me the real insight of what I will be getting into.

I'm excited to see what is.

Next when I do become a practicing physician.

I don't want to be an ordinary ObGyn.

I know that I want to do something more for my community and also for myself.

If you're looking for a career path and health care, this program is here for you.

Don't feel like you're lost or that you're alone.

It's easy to be a part of.

It's free to join, and it's a great way to make friends and feel supported in your educational journey and even in your professional journey.

When you're done with school.

Whether you be applying to the Ambassador Program or the Scholar Program at the K through 12 initiatives, try this thing out, see if it works.

And if not, you're not like this big long standing commitment.

You have flexibility within it.

You don't have to know what you want to be, but find something you're passionate about or interested in and get to know more and just get involved because all of this stuff will add up.

I think just taking that initiative and being able to step outside of your comfort zone and ask to shadow, even if it's outside of the program deadlines, just do it for yourself.

Get get into nursing.

You can be a doctor, you can get into dental care.

You can do mental health, you can kind of do a little bit of everything.

So it's just trying to increase that health care focus by just adding these things in.

And so they can kind of get into it a little bit more and see if it works for them and see if that is a passion of theirs.

Find ways that you can get involved now, especially if you don't know what you want to do.

Look into health care.

You might actually find something that you really like about it.

Anything you're interested in, explore it.

Look through this field and see what in this field kind of hits that desire.

You'll never know unless you try.

So you just got to give it a shot and see where it goes.

They have a lot of opportunities, especially through that ambassador program.

That's a very exciting thing that everyone should try to get involved with if they have an interest in health care, because that's what I did.