The photo on a shelf in Heather Hill’s office at the Benton-Franklin Health District is a reminder of the power of internships.

It’s a picture of her with the daughter of a former co-worker who attended Delta High School in Pasco and worked at the health district as an intern after a rough start at another health care provider’s office.

That young woman was so inspired by her time at the health district that she decided to pursue nursing.

Hill, who is deputy to the health district’s health officer, said she was so impressed by her that after the student was accepted to Gonzaga University in Spokane, she helped her secure a work study that would bring her back to work at the health district each summer and school break.

Now that former Delta High student is a nurse practitioner with patients of her own.

“It’s important that we actually provide quality education and experiences,” Hill recently told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

And Gonzaga, along with partner University of Washington School of Medicine, are looking to provide more of those kinds of experiences in the Tri-Cities.

Representatives from the two schools recently visited the area to build connections for future partnerships in health care education, especially as Gonzaga prepares to launch a new master’s in public health program this year.

“We think we’re strongest with our community partners,” said Dr. Geoff Jones, UW Medicine’s assistant clinical dean for central and eastern Washington.

Hill and officials with Columbia Basin College in Pasco told the Journal it is important to get students into health care career pipelines while showing them the breadth of roles available. But there are limits to how quickly or how much that pipeline can widen.

There are many pathways to health care fields already in the Tri-Cities, starting as soon as high school with Tri-Tech Skills Center’s programs in dental assisting, pre-medical assisting, pre-nursing, pre-physical therapy and fire and emergency medical services.

Washington State University Tri-Cities has a branch of its nursing school in Richland while Columbia Basin College has steadily grown its offerings of two- and four-year degrees in multiple health sciences.

WSU and UW, which both have medical students based in Spokane, send many to the Tri-Cities for clinical rotations and residencies at the area’s hospitals and clinics.

UW and Gonzaga formed their own health partnership almost 10 years ago and have emphasized providing rural health care training for medical students. While continuing to pursue that goal, the institutions now want to create a similar pipeline for public health.

“It’s an exciting way for us to address health equity issues,” said Robin Pickering, a professor and chair of public health at Gonzaga.

Hill said more exposure to public health is needed among health care providers. She said many physicians are unaware of the variety of services health districts provide, thinking that they primarily offer immunizations. But there are also food safety inspections, water testing and other clinical services.

The health district is interested in seeing how it could partner with UW and Gonzaga. Enhancement of the region’s sexually-transmitted infections (STI) prevention efforts is one area Hill said having more medical school and health care interns could be useful as resources and staffing for those services are scarce.

Pickering and Jones also recently met with CBC leaders, including Douglas Hughes, dean of the college’s school of health sciences. Hughes said their conversations revolved around curriculum and career pathways. There was even the suggestion of a matriculation agreement that would allow CBC’s future graduates with a four-year community health degree to continue on to Gonzaga for its new master’s in public health degree.

“Having more community health leaders, especially from the graduate level, would be a huge benefit to our community,” Hughes told the Journal.

But students require support and that has a finite supply. Hill said that while the health district loves to have interns and medical students working within its programs, staff can only provide so much time in a day when they have their other responsibilities to the community.

“That’s the conundrum we have,” Hill said. “There’s not enough providers to serve the population but how do you get more with few providers to start?”

CBC’s community health program is only in its second year and so hasn’t yet run into a problem with having the resources necessary to support students, Hughes said. The college also has lined up clinical partners such as Tri-Cities Community Health and Grace Clinic to provide hands-on experience in the future.

“I know as the program continues to grow, that may become more challenging,” Hughes said of finding internship slots for students in the coming years.

Despite that challenge, health care leaders said they always look for a way to build those pipelines, as not doing so can be a missed opportunity.

Jones told the Journal that UW and Gonzaga do plan to continue their conversations with the health district and CBC in the coming weeks and months. Yes, students do take time and energy on the part of providers, but it’s support that will pay dividends going forward.

“These relationships with the students are valuable, and it’s how we get them back,” he said.