Health Care Reform from the Mouths of Teenagers

As told by Brittany Schier and Dallas Walter

Instead of hitting the mall or chillin’ by the pool with their friends this summer, high school seniors Brittany Schier and Dallas Walter spent six weeks in Community Scholars Inc., conducting intense research on El Paso’s health care system.

Community Scholars Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides research internships to promising El Paso high school students who are economically disadvantaged.

Schier and Walter’s research topic? El Paso’s physician shortage. The team analyzed El Paso’s health care infrastructure and health-related legislation. As a result, El Paso now has a region-specific report that could help local educators and state legislators improve health care on the U.S./Mexico border.

Recommendations from the second-year Community Scholars interns included the state legislature recognizing El Paso as an urban county and maintaining tort reform. Schier and Walter also suggested the federal government lax the caps on residencies and that border health care professionals should emphasize preventative care.

The scholars utilized government databases, conducted interviews with local officials and incorporated a multitude of sources to draw analyses. Schier and Walter interviewed Manuel Schydlower, M.D., dean of admissions for the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, the director of the City of El Paso Department of Public Health, the University of Texas at El Paso School of Nursing dean, the executive director and president of the El Paso County Medical Society, senior program officers of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation and physician recruiters from Hospital Corporation of America and Tenet Healthcare.

Schier and Walter’s complete report will be available this fall on the Community Scholars website.