www.desertdoctors.org In September, the third annual Healthy Desert, Healthy You Summit brought together over 400 community members with a new focus on the social determinants of health, including healthcare access, behavior and mental health, healthcare workforce development and housing. I was very inspired by the “Workforce: Building the Future Care Team” panel, which demonstrated the growing collaboration among local educators, employers and community organizations to address our valley’s long-standing shortage of healthcare professionals. Their philosophy is to continue to build from the ground up by supporting pathways that help local students become the physicians, nurses and allied health professionals (supportive positions) our community needs. The panel was moderated by KESQ News Channel 3’s Katie Boer and featured OneFuture Coachella Valley’s President and CEO Sheila Thornton; Eisenhower Health’s Chief Community Health Officer Victor Cisneros, MD; InnerCare’s Vice President and Chief Academic Officer Conrado Bárzaga, MD, and the College of the Desert’s Acting Dean of Mathematics and Sciences, Nursing and Allied Health Sarah Fry, MSN, RN, PHN, CNE. New efforts aim to further support graduates of our award-winning health career academies, in which approximately 1,200 students across seven valley high schools currently participate. But classroom learning alone isn’t enough, OneFuture’s Sheila Thornton said. Students also need exposure to real workplaces, mentors and professionals who can help them envision themselves in these careers, and funding to continue their required education. Eisenhower Health is bringing high school students onto its campus to meet medical professionals, receive mentoring and learn about the many careers available beyond doctors and nurses. Those experiences can lead to college-level clinical, research and mentorship opportunities designed to strengthen students’ applications to health profession programs (read a student perspective in our OneFuture column on page 4). Financial support is another critical piece. Over the past 12 years, OneFuture and its community partners have awarded $21 million in scholarships to 3,300 local students, approximately 35% of whom are pursuing healthcare. Those recipients have earned 671 healthcare degrees, including approximately 215 nursing degrees and 20 doctoral degrees. The scholarship program involves 15 nonprofit and educational organizations working with the Desert Healthcare District. www.DesertHealthNews.com November/December 2026 Continued on page 24 Medical News The Valley's Leading Resource for Health and Wellness 8 Your Health. Your Choice. Find trusted independent doctors throughout the Coachella Valley. Insurance accepted • Hospital privileges For direct access to quality care, visit DesertDoctors.org, or call 760.232.4646 Adam Farzaneh, MD Concierge Medicine, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine Christopher Hancock, M.D. Neuroradiology, Radiology, Telemedicine Corina Morrison, D.C. Chiropractor Mark V. Sofonio, M.D., F.A.C.S. Plastic Surgery PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS including: FULL SPECTRUM OF SPECIALISTS including: VARIETY OF ALLIED MEMBERS including: Local Doctors. Independent Care. Scan to search our provider directory You agree to help someone, then feel a tightness in your chest. Your schedule is already full. Immediately, you begin arguing with yourself: “I’m selfish to feel this way. They need me. I should be able to handle it.” Before deciding what to do, you have turned your discomfort into a judgment about yourself. Self-trust involves taking your thoughts, feelings, needs, perceptions, observations and experiences seriously enough to use them when making decisions. It also leaves room for facts, other perspectives and new information. Your feelings deserve consideration, even when they do not tell the whole story. When people repeatedly hear that they are too sensitive, demanding or wrong, they may begin questioning what they notice. They may judge their needs or feel compelled to prove that their feelings are justified. A decision becomes an exhausting internal debate. Here is a practice I use with clients that offers a structured way to pause during that debate. The sequence is simple: notice, hold both, decide. Begin with your right hand, palm facing up. Imagine holding the weight of your inner experience: your thoughts, feelings, needs, urges and perceptions. Name what you notice without judging it. “I feel overwhelmed. I need rest. I want to say no.” Next, raise your left hand, palm facing up. Imagine holding the weight of the facts and information about the situation. What happened? What do you know? What remains uncertain? Separate observable events from guessing about another person’s intentions. Bring your hands together with their sides touching, palms up. Pause and imagine the weight in each hand. Allow both your experience and the situation to receive attention. Then make a “Yes, and…” statement and say it aloud: “Yes, I feel overwhelmed and need rest, and my friend has asked me for help.” Neither part cancels the other. Your friend’s need does not erase your exhaustion. Your exhaustion does not erase your friend’s request. Now ask: “Given everything I’m noticing, what is the most effective next step?” You might offer thirty minutes instead of an afternoon, suggest another resource or decline. The decision considers your capacity alongside the request. You do not have to prove that someone is wrong before acknowledging a limit. This shift also changes the question. Instead of circling around questions like, “Why am I like this?” or “Who is right?” you ask what you can do next. Sometimes the effective step is to gather information or wait until you are calmer. Practice with small, everyday interactions. Repeat the statement aloud when the same doubt returns. Repetition provides another opportunity to acknowledge your experience and consider the facts before acting. Self-trust leaves room for mistakes and revision. You can misunderstand something, learn more and change your decision while continuing to take yourself seriously. The aim is to make room for what you feel and what you know, then choose an action that fits the situation. Over time, those ordinary moments become opportunities to practice a different response: noticing yourself without immediately dismissing yourself, and deciding without first putting yourself on trial. Linda Olson is a psychologist with Desert Integrative Wellness and creator of the SelfTrust Approach™ and Yes And Practice™. She helps women understand why they stay in unhealthy relationships and how to rebuild self-trust and break free. She can be reached at (760) 349.1248. Making Decisions Effectively By Linda Olson, PsyD Katie Boer and Sheila Thornton at the Healthy Desert, Healthy You Summit (Photo: Andrew Cabral) Growing Our Own Healthcare Workforce Healthy Desert Summit highlights local efforts By Lauren Del Sarto
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