This summer I was given the chance to intern at Shaping Our Appalachian Region, Inc. (SOAR) and it was a wonderful experience. Our main focus was the Appalachian Nursing Academy (ANA) which is centered on helping alleviate the nursing shortage within eastern Kentucky as well as giving children with less fortunate backgrounds the opportunity to look into other healthcare careers as well as granting them 1,500 stipends to help further their education. The nursing shortage within eastern Kentucky has been a constant issue for years and was only further exacerbated by the pandemic. This shortage is caused by several factors including the strong yearning to leave eastern Kentucky due to a lower perceived economic opportunity, high obesity and chronic illness throughout the populus, brain drain amongst healthcare professionals, and socio-economic issues regarding post-secondary education. All of these issues became very apparent to me as further interacted with locals and sat in on board meetings during my stay.
As I began my internship, I was a mix of excitement and nervousness as it was my first ever extended stay, multiple states away from friends and family. However, those feelings quickly went away as I made it to Pikeville and met with the SOAR team. They were funny, charismatic, and were dedicated to helping improve Appalachia as a whole. During my first five weeks, I stayed in Pikeville and worked on gathering data from the Previous year’s ANA program and documenting it as well. I then collaborated with a fellow intern as well as our supervisor Claudette Enriquez in reaching out to Pikeville Medical Center, Appalachian Regional Healthcare, and several other organizations to help coordinate a schedule for this year’s academy as well as develop our lesson plan for two-time slots in which we would be teaching the kids. On top of this, I also made an effort to engage with the community and learn about their culture. In doing so I made some great connections with locals and found everyone to be warm and welcoming. Along with this, I was able to foster a newfound appreciation for country and bluegrass music.
During this time, I was also allowed to sit in on a statewide board meeting to further learn about the other crisis occurring within eastern Kentucky such as the lack of broad band internet within the area and how it has essentially isolated the region. I also learned of natural disasters such as flash floods that often decimate communities which in many circumstances leave them homeless or worse with many counties still not recovered from the most recent one which happened in 2022. Overall, I was baffled to learn about these issues and how I have never heard of them before, and hearing firsthand from appointed officials we all local it made it a very really apparent issue that demands attention and needs to be resolved.
Finally, during my last 2 weeks, I got to work as a counselor during the ANA and help supervise and mentor our 30 students. This was truly an amazing experience as I learned about what it takes to be in the healthcare field as well as all of the different routes one can take. I also was able to gain my CPR certificate and learn about basic life support techniques. But most importantly I was able to interact and witness the next generation of healthcare professionals in the making and seeing how much they changed over those two weeks is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
All in all, I am so grateful for this experience and the life lessons I have gained it would have been able to happen without the help and support of the SOAR team, Jill Rodgers, and our amazing alumni network and I just like to say thank you for all that you have done for me I hope the pay it forward some day!
