Short on community health workers, a county trains teens as youth ambassadors
In Fairfax County, Va., the health department is training high school students to become health ambassadors in underserved communities and get a leg up on future careers in public health.
Of all the things she could have done on her summer vacation, Bithaniya Fieseha, a senior at West Springfield High School in Fairfax County, Va., decided to study chronic disease, mental health and contact tracing. Some of her friends didn't understand the appeal.
"I feel like people are like, 'You wasted your summer,' " she says. "But I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed meeting up with everyone, going through the struggle."
She practiced taking temperatures, weight and blood pressure readings on her family. Fieseha topped it off with an internship at a local health clinic.
