It's tough to find workers for Idaho's health clinics right now, but an apprenticeship program is hoping to address these woes.

Nearly three years of the pandemic have led to turnover and burnout in the medical field, and workers are hard to find with unemployment numbers so low.

To deal with the crunch, the Idaho Community Health Centers Association is collaborating with North Idaho College and the Idaho Department of Labor on a statewide apprenticeship program where students can earn while they learn.

Robin Donovan is the program manager of workforce development for the association.

"We know that there's a huge shortage for medical assistants and dental assistants, and those are a little bit more entry-level positions coming into a clinic," said Donovan. "It doesn't require a degree. And so we looked at ways to bring these apprenticeship programs across the state."

Donovan said the goal was to create a program that wouldn't be a burden for their organization or clinics to manage.

Since January, one student has graduated from the dental assistant program and six more expected to graduate this month.

The dental assistant apprenticeship can take as little as four and a half months and the medical assistant apprenticeship is eight and a half months.

Students not on North Idaho College's campus in Coeur d'Alene work with clinical preceptors, or experienced clinicians in their community.

Marty Matney - manager of health, occupations and careers for the North Idaho College workforce training center - said the pandemic has shown the school how it can be successful at a distance.

"We're very successful in our medical assistant apprenticeship because we've benefited form COVID, if you can believe that," said Matney, "in that we have learned how to take a program that is largely hands on and put it online."

Donovan noted that the apprenticeship program also can create career ladders for people, and says that program helps local communities.

"They're 80% more likely to stay in that clinic in that community and continue working," said Donovan. "So it's a great retention tool for the employer to offer those types of trainings."

Matney said higher education is adapting post-COVID.

"Higher ed is playing a role right now by being flexible and responding to the needs of the community," said Matney.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

November has been Diabetes Awareness Month - but heading into the holidays, people who are diabetic know they can't lose their focus on keeping it in check. And technology is making it easier to monitor the disease from home.

More than 520,000 Washingtonians have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Dr. Mamatha Palanati is the medical diabetes program director for Kaiser Permanente Washington. She said the disease needs to be managed closely, because it can lead to serious health complications.

Palanati noted that fortunately, people don't need to leave their homes to do this in some cases.

"In today's world, there's a much easier way to do it, like telehealth," said Palanati. "Telehealth provides multiple ways for the follow-up and connection to the health care for any individual."

Palanti said people managing diabetes still should plan to see their physician in person at least once a year. Management of other factors, like blood pressure and cholesterol, can also help reduce complications.

Palanati said monitoring technology can also assist people.

"The family members and caregivers, or anyone who can take care of that particular individual," said Palanati, "can do it remotely and manage their diabetes in a much better way."

Palanati stressed that diabetes is a chronic disease.

"Don't look at this as an additional chore or anything," said Palanati. "Make it as a part of your life. So, be active, making sure you adapt to the healthy lifestyles. It may not be perfect, but try your best to get what you can do."




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As World AIDS Day turns 35, the mother of an Indiana teen who became the public face of the disease is a reminder of the importance of never forgetting the hard work of medical researchers and the victims lost in the frenzy to find a cure.

More than 40 million people have died from AIDS, including Ryan White, who grew up in central Indiana at a time when not much was known about it and medicine offered few treatments. Ryan contracted the disease during a blood transfusion at age 13. He became a staunch advocate against discrimination and helped change how Americans view AIDS.

Jeanne White-Ginder, who eventually left Indiana for Florida, said it is imperative to remember all the lost lives.

"That is so important that we remember all the people who got us to where we are today, because they are no longer here," White-Ginder noted. "And I'm not just talking about Ryan, because Ryan was a face, but there are so many people that did all the work."

Just five weeks after Ryan's death in 1990, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Ryan White CARE Act with bipartisan support. The legislation helps more people get tested for HIV and offers assistance to patients in all stages of the disease.

Ryan's mom emphasized AIDS affects people across the spectrum, regardless of labels.

"A gay person has it, a straight person has it, a blood transfusion person has it; it was for everybody," White-Ginder explained. "Once you have AIDS, you're just like everybody else who has AIDS; you're fighting to stay alive. And people fought to stay alive, and people dedicated their lives to get us to where we are today."

She added Ryan would have turned 52 next week.

His mom plans to travel to Indiana University on his birthday, where the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention will present the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award to Dr. Joe and Sarah Ellen Mamlin.


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Advocates for affordable health care are speaking out to remind people what is at stake if the Affordable Care Act is repealed in the wake of recent statements by former President Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump, who leads the polls for the 2024 Republican nomination, has recently said he is looking at alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, and criticized the GOP lawmakers who voted against his attempts to end the program in 2017.

Laura Packard, a Stage 4 cancer survivor, noted before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies were allowed to deny coverage to people like her with pre-existing conditions.

"While I was on the couch, trying to survive, that's when Republicans in the U.S. House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act that was keeping me alive," Packard recounted. "Then, they held a party to celebrate. We can't go back to that."

The Affordable Care Act created health exchanges -- like Covered California -- offering subsidized health insurance to millions of people. And it funded an expansion of MediCal, benefiting 5 million low-income Californians in the first six years after the law's passage.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who helped write the health care law, said the Affordable Care Act forces health insurance companies to cover basic services like maternity care, mental health services, cancer screenings and contraception. The idea of getting rid of the law has been largely unpopular, and Wyden knows why.

"It would mean higher premiums for families and health insurance," Wyden pointed out. "And it would also threaten Medicaid nursing home benefits, because Medicaid is paying much of the nursing home bill for this country."

The law also allows adult children to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26 and bans lifetime caps on coverage.


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