TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Arizona ranks No. 9 in the nation as having the most health professional shortage areas, and Pima Medical Institute is working to close that gap by training the next generation of healthcare workers in Tucson.
According to the Arizona Health Workforce, out of 126 primary care health professional shortage areas in the state, 82 are designated medically underserved — and Tucson is one of them.
By 2032 it is predicted, with the current population growth, Arizona will be short 4,679 registered nurses, 412 nurse practitioners, and 4,131 physicians.
Todd Matthews, campus director at Pima Medical Institute, said the school is positioned to help address that need.
"As Tucson has grown so much, I've been here for several years now, it's an opportunity for us to make sure that workforce has plenty of people going into those jobs when they become vacant or as the growth drops as well," Matthews said.
Pima Medical Institute is holding an open house this week for community members and potential students to step inside classrooms and see what programs are offered and how the next generation of healthcare professionals are trained.
The institute offers 13 different programs, including surgical technology, phlebotomy, veterinary, and sonography.
"Some take less than a year to complete. Associate degree programs complete in just about two years," Matthews said.
Najla Khalifa, ultrasound program director, said sonographers play a critical role in patient care.
"Sonographers are usually one of the first healthcare professionals to come in contact with the patient. So, once they come in through the ER, they tend to send ER patients straight to imaging to try to find out what's wrong with the patient," Khalifa said.
During a visit to the campus, Khalifa described what students were practicing in real time.
"Hannah is looking at the patient's thyroid right now and scanning through it. This is an exam that we require our students to know how to do. So she's just demonstrating that right now on one of our Phillips machines." Khalifa said.
She says the lab with upgraded equipment makes all the difference for students.
"The support here is so great because they offer us all these wonderful machines. They've got the ability to purchase these brand new machines and they're state of the art. Most programs don't have that. They get refurbished machines or used machines," Khalifa said.
Azenethe Amaya has been a medical assistant student at Pima Medical since February. She said the program is helping her build a foundation for a long-term career in healthcare.
"I've always known I wanted to be in the healthcare and I feel like being an MA kind of gets your foot in the door so maybe one day if I want to become something different, you know I kind of have that experience right now," Amaya said.
The last day of open house is Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. located at 2121 N. Craycroft Road, Bldg 1.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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