The global pandemic has shown a sustained increase in demand for qualified healthcare workers. Women in North Texas respond to the calls of a well-trained workforce and work to change lives in the process.
It's happening in an intimate environment away from Wheatland Road in Duncanville. Your dreams become reality, and one class, one test, one certification at a time.
To make students believe in themselves, nurse Michele Gomez Refal had to look back on her life. She founded the Absolute Allied Health Academy after the pandemic, giving adults of all ages the opportunity to enter a career in healthcare.
“I thought about all the trials and hardships I grew up in Compton, California,” Leffall said. “I said, 'Okay, I'll open up, open schools and offer opportunities that I haven't grown myself.”
The Academy offers an acceleration program that allows students to become medical assistants, EKG technicians and ph bone tissue in about 12 weeks. The Academy requires you to complete an intensive series of courses, hands-on training, clinical times and certification.
Leffall said she would rarely keep anyone away, but she founded the academy with people like her in mind. People whose passes are all smooth.
“The barrier you think you'd actually think you'd rule out that you're actually approved in our program,” she said. “If you are a government assistance that is a teenage parent, a parenting mother or father, displaced people, or unemployed, we want you.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that medical assistant employment would increase by 15% between 2023 and 2033. PH Blood employment was projected to increase by 8% from 2023 to 2033.
Student Mika Newton said her mom encouraged her to enroll in the Absolute Alliance Health Academy.
“I came and toured and immediately fell in love with Nurse Refal,” Newton said.
Newton began classes in January and has not looked back.
“I didn't believe much in myself before the program. Now you can't say anything to me. I know how to do phbetomy, I know how to draw blood from someone, I know how to do EKG. So it really brought me to the fullest potential of me,” Newton said.
Leffall relies on grants and corporate partnerships to raise funds, and has already graduated with more than 200 students. Many now belong to the North Texas workforce of USMD, Baylor Scott and White, Southwestern, Utah, Methodist Charlton, and Methodist Mansfield. Still, she said she wanted to reach more people through her program.
“I think sometimes our situation prevents us from moving forward,” Lefal said. It's like I don't think it's possible that it will happen, but you can. ”
For more information about Absolute Allied Health Academy.
