CINCINNATI — The U.S. does not have enough doctors and nurses to treat the population, according to data from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The report says the health care workforce shortage is even more of a problem in Black and brown communities. 

While Kentucky medical schools are trying to address this by attracting more diverse students, one Cincinnati nurse is taking it upon herself to be an example for her own community.

Registered nurse Amanda Mills has had to overcome a lot to get to where she is today. But she says she’s right where she wants to be.

“I’ve always seen the bigger picture because I had a purpose, I had a goal in mind,” Mills said.

Nursing school itself was a challenge for Mills, a single mother of four who had a car that kept breaking down. But she still found ways to get her kids where they needed to go, get herself to school, graduate and start working in a hospital. But the challenges didn’t stop there.

“The nurse-to-patient ratio was too high. And I felt like my license was at risk. They wanted me to take on like eight patients that had high acuity levels, which, as a new nurse, I didn’t feel safe to take on. So I did end up leaving just to keep my license, and the safety of other patients,” Mills said. “My journey started out rough, because I was like, ‘man, maybe I’m not ready to be a nurse.’ Because I can’t hack the hospital. But somehow life guided me to school nursing. And I love it. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Mills works as a school nurse at Dater Montessori School. She’s employed through the City of Cincinnati Health Department. Even though she was initially hesitant, she said being a school nurse is the most rewarding work she’s done.

“I knew very little about being a school nurse, and I’m like, ‘they don’t do anything.’ And I can tell you I feel more rewarded in this profession than anything, because I get to make a difference with children. I can teach them, I can educate them,” she said.

But even in a job she loves, the challenges haven’t gone away.

“Sometimes I have to cover two schools once a week, just because we are short of nurses. And that’s how it was at the hospital. We were always short of nurses,” she said.

Health care workers around the country have faced similar situations.

Data from the Health Resources and Services Administration suggests the U.S. needs over 17,000 additional primary care practitioners, 12,000 dental health practitioners and over 8,000 mental health practitioners.

The report says the health care worker shortage is “more acute” in Black and brown communities, a notion Mills agrees with.

“You have to build trust. Before you can even help a patient, they have to be able to trust you. And most of the time, with black people, if they’re not looking like us, we’re kind of leery,” she said. “If we want to have more people representing us, like representing the people that we want to see, we need to be putting people out there.”

Mills said she thinks a lot of people who would make great doctors simply don’t have the resources they need for medical school to be an option.

“I think a lot of people opt out of it because the curriculum is so hard. And it’s not easy to understand, if you’ve never had that background. And if you don’t have that support within your community as well, especially with people of color, or people that are in poverty,” she said. “So even thinking about medical school or nursing school is going to be hard for them, because they’re already lacking that education.

Leaders of historically Black medical schools are calling for more funding to train a more diverse workforce. They say having a health care workforce that reflects the communities served would help reduce the health inequities in the U.S.

UofL and UK have programs that work with high school students of color to give them hands-on experience in medical settings. 

Dr. Holly Danneman, Associate Dean of the UK College of Medicine Northern Kentucky Regional Campus, said the college aims to create a more diverse student body and health care workforce through admissions.

“It’s important that our students reflect the community. That our student body reflects the community of patients that they’re going to someday treat,” Danneman said.

Mills said she’s encouraged by those efforts.

“That will establish trust within the Black community, seeing Black doctors, Black nurses, Black surgical techs, just Black health care professionals. They’ll feel, ‘I can go get treatment. I will go get treatment,’” she said.

She’s also trying to set her own example for kids at her school.

“I’m happy that kids see me, especially Black kids, Black girls, Black boys. They see, ‘okay, I have a Black nurse in my school,’” she said. “That’s why I feel like me being with the children will help the future for kids that want to be in medical care. And I have kids like, ‘I want to be a nurse just like you.’ and I’m like, ‘You can, baby. You can do it.’”

It’s a message she thinks all kids should hear.

Mills said she also tries to instill healthy habits in kids, and will even help parents schedule dentist and doctor appointments. She said not developing those habits can lead to setbacks later in life.