Great, Cathy. Yes, I'm very new to Thompson Rivers. I was very excited to come to the university here. They recruited me here very aggressively because of their program on indigenous health research.
When I look at health careers across the board, yes, you're absolutely right. I totally agree with you. Those whom we're targeting at 90%, sometimes book smart does not translate into a really good, awesome bedside nurse.
One of the things I advocate for is this pathway to health careers, starting them in grade 3 and 4, teaching them that medical terminology, levelling it up so by the time they get to grade 7 they have a little more knowledge. They do the anatomy and physiology. There's a really good way to strengthen that so we could create a pipeline from high school into a health career position. They do health career for 27 weeks. They work and take care of their families. They go back, and they do the LPN for two years. Then we create the pipeline further and extend it into the registered nursing program and the baccalaureate program.
Right now, as you know, Thompson Rivers has committed to developing the first indigenous master's program in the country. It will have a specific focus on indigenous nursing leadership. I think that's really telling. As I mentioned earlier, our indigenous nursing pool is a really untapped resource. You have an expertise here to fill a gap. We know they are the most trusted health professionals in our community. Our communities see that too. We are at the bedside, in the alleys, in the back of cars. We have that relationship with our youth. We have to start building that bridge strongly, looking at equity seats and equity funding.
I know TRU has an aboriginal health careers program here. Circulating in some of the communities here was interesting. I asked students how come we don't have more aboriginal students. They believe they are not smart enough. I talked to three or four adults in the last two weeks, trying to encourage them to go into an LPN program. They are mature students, and I always use my own life example.
I was a single parent with four kids, and I went through every health career program from the time I was 18, and I just finished my Ph.D. in 2014. I was able to be a better health care provider with the school because I was able to navigate around my classes. I ended up being at home for my children more so than if I were committed to doing a 12-hour shift.
That for me is a dream, and I think a lot of kids come with life experience already. They know how to get their grannies to the doctors, how to interact with the emergency services. They know all about emergency by the time they are 12 years old. They are already navigating the system and the health care system at a very young age. I think we can draw on those strengths.
