In this inspiring episode of the Healthy Desert Healthy You podcast, host Will Dean speaks with Deja Brown, a Desert Healthcare District and Foundation scholarship recipient through One Future Coachella Valley. Deja shares her journey from Illinois to the Coachella Valley, her path through College of the Desert, and her current studies at Sacramento State University. She discusses her goal of becoming a licensed physical therapist, opening clinics in the Valley, and teaching CPR to young athletes. The conversation highlights the importance of education access, workforce development, and community support in addressing local healthcare shortages. Deja also reflects on resilience, nontraditional education pathways, and why giving back to the Coachella Valley is central to her purpose and future career.
Takeaways:
The Valley faces a critical shortage of healthcare professionals
Scholarships can change educational and career trajectories
Nontraditional paths can still lead to success in healthcare
Community support plays a key role in student stability
Education, housing, food, and job security drive opportunity
Giving back strengthens local healthcare systems
Representation matters in health and medical careers
Young people can leave, grow, and return to serve their community
[00:00:16] Deja Brown, Guest: Gracias. Gracias, Will. Un gusto conocerte.
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[00:00:20] Deja Brown, Guest: Estoy bien. Me siento muy bien con el año nuevo. A ver qué pasa.
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[00:00:46] Will Dean, Host: Y una de las razones por las que quisimos hacer esto es, bueno, dos razones. Una es que nos dimos cuenta de que hay una escasez de médicos y enfermeras, técnicos y otros profesionales de la salud en el Valle de Coachella, [00:01:00] y queríamos abordar esa situación y, posiblemente, aumentar el número de médicos en el valle.
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[00:01:26] Deja Brown, Guest: Así crecí en Waukegan, Illinois, a unos cuarenta y cinco minutos de Chicago. En dos mil veintidós me mudé al Valle de Coachella; en ese periodo, en dos mil veintitrés me inscribí en College of the Desert. Y así fue como me hice un lugar en la comunidad de Coachella Valley, integrándome poco a poco entre la gente.
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[00:01:55] Will Dean, Host: Sí. ¿Qué impresión te dejó mudarte aquí, acaso? ¿Fue fácil adaptarte, verdad?
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[00:02:29] Deja Brown, Guest: Bien.
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[00:02:33] Deja Brown, Guest: Sí, correcto.
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[00:02:38] Deja Brown, Guest: ¿En College of the Desert? Mi especialidad fue medicina deportiva. Pero hubo un retraso en el último instante, y tuve que cambiar de carrera a humanidades con foco en matemáticas y ciencias.
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[00:03:07] Will Dean, Host: Eso es genial. Dime qué es, sí. ¿Cuál es la meta profesional o el sueño definitivo?
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[00:03:38] Deja Brown, Guest: Tenemos varios atletas jóvenes que van a la prepa y a la universidad. Quiero enseñarles lo básico de la RCP y de primeros auxilios. Así, cuando sigan en marcha, ese conocimiento podrá acompañarlos y, si quieren, compartirlo con otros.
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[00:04:03] Will Dean, Host: Sí. Y vamos a hablar un poco de eso, pero primero quiero saber de ti, ¿cómo supiste de esta beca y qué significó para ti recibirla?
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[00:04:27] Deja Brown, Guest: Folletos por todas partes, de verdad. Solo lo seguía; donde fuera él, yo también estaría. Así que, la tercera vez que nos vimos, me dio un folleto y me habló de una de las pocas becas. Y esa era una de ellas. Dijo: deberías postularte. No mucha gente solicita becas.
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[00:05:07] Deja Brown, Guest: Recibí, y luego recibí SEOD. Eh, y así fue realmente, muy bien. Recibirlo me hizo sentir que me permite continuar con mi educación y seguir aprendiendo estas cosas y conceptos nuevos. Pero lo que más me alegró al recibirlo es que confían en que, sea cual sea el camino que tome para ser un fisioterapeuta licenciado, ellos me acompañarán.
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[00:05:37] Will Dean, Host: Bien. Eso es excelente. Anteriormente mencioné cuán desafiados estamos por la escasez de profesionales médicos aquí en el Valle de Coachella, y una de las vías que consideramos, obviamente, es la de reclutamiento; pero también retener y hacer crecer a nuestra propia plantilla de trabajadores, y, eh, te consideraría parte de eso ya que decidiste que realmente quieres [00:06:00] trabajar aquí.
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[00:06:07] Deja Brown, Guest: Solo la comunidad en el valle. Nunca he vivido en tantos lugares distintos, pero nunca lo he visto así. Como lo he visto aquí en el valle. Tanta gente regresa; y a ellos los he conocido y he conversado con ellos; hay gente que sigue creciendo allí, incluso cuando se van y vuelven; hay gente que se va y ya realmente quiere volver.
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[00:06:58] Deja Brown, Guest: Como siento que tengo [00:07:00] que volver allí, como si fuera algo que no puedo evitar. Eso no. No hay otra, no hay otra, eh, visión. Creo.
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[00:07:21] Will Dean, Host: No podía esperar alejarme del valle, porque aquí no parecía haber suficiente para ellos. Y saber que conoces a la gente y tú quieres estar aquí es muy alentador, sobre todo pensando en tu profesión y la escasez que enfrentamos. ¿Qué crees que debe ocurrir para no solo retener a las personas que crecen, para que vuelvan y vivan y trabajen, sino para reclutar a la gente?
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[00:07:52] Deja Brown, Guest: Así que, sí, voy a darte una versión muy general, eso sí. Pero siento que la educación, la vivienda, la comida [00:08:00] y la seguridad laboral son cuatro pilares que dan estabilidad y sostén a una comunidad y a su futuro. Y cuando las cuatro cosas mencionadas se alinean.
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[00:08:31] Deja Brown, Guest: Creo que estas cuatro cosas deben ser revisadas un poco más cada año, en cada ocasión, cada mes. Y cuando todas estas se alinean, cuando todas ellas no tienen que ser perfectas, pero cuando se alinean un poco, se puede ver lo que puede pasar en la comunidad. Como yo, tuve una gran suerte de estar en la cancha universitaria.
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[00:09:19] Deja Brown, Guest: Lo que me permitió estar aquí en Sac State. Y no soy el estándar, pero sí lo soy. No soy el estándar, pero lo soy; soy la excepción. Y creo que es muy importante que observemos cuidadosamente esas cuatro cosas, porque sé, al igual que yo mismo, hablando por mí mismo, pero también como amigos, yo también, como persona que ve a mis compañeros, también lucha con estas cosas y ellos también las enfrentan día a día.
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[00:10:01] Will Dean, Host: Bien dicho, sí, está claro que tú, como todos, hemos tenido además algunos retos.
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[00:10:12] Deja Brown, Guest: Todos. Todos me mantienen en movimiento. Allí tengo un amigo que no pudo entrar a la escuela de sus sueños, así que tengo muchísima suerte de estar aquí. Tengo amigos que no pueden comer todos los días, pero yo sí puedo, y no doy por sentadas esas cosas; las llevo en la mente en todo lo que hago y digo. Intento guiarme por eso y, con esa idea en la mente, aprovechar cada oportunidad que tengo.
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[00:10:57] Deja Brown, Guest: Voy a ser dueño de mi [00:11:00] clínica; estaré en Valle de Coachella; y eso me da para seguir.
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[00:11:13] Deja Brown, Guest: Sí. Sí. Hay muchísimos competidores por ahí. Sac State fue uno de ellos por varias razones.
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[00:11:41] Deja Brown, Guest: Así tiene que ser. Allí tuve muchísimo éxito. Si quiero tener éxito, sé con certeza que las cosas que hice allí pueden transferirse a la escuela y, de hecho, la escuela tiene casi todo, y un poco más. Y, así que me siento muy bien. Ya terminé mi primer semestre; ahora lo hice bien, y [00:12:00] así estoy.
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[00:12:25] Will Dean, Host: Me encanta que puedas salir a estudiar y volver para continuar tu educación. Sí. Eso es importante. Me encanta eso. ¿Qué más quieres decir, no solo a los estudiantes que ya están en COD o en la secundaria, sino también a estudiantes más jóvenes, a jóvenes negros con una meta profesional o un sueño que tal vez no han dicho en voz alta o que no creen que pueda hacerse realidad?
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[00:12:53] Deja Brown, Guest: A ustedes, estimados estudiantes, diré que hay más de una manera de llegar a donde van. Creo [00:13:00] que, a menudo, pensamos en formas tradicionales o normas sociales sobre cómo hacer las cosas. No seguí mi educación de la forma tradicional en absoluto. Eh, y ha sido divertido. Es la mayor diversión que he tenido al seguir mi educación.
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[00:13:40] Deja Brown, Guest: Hay más de una forma de seguir tu educación y de hacer tu doctorado. Ser pasante o conseguir un empleo, ser voluntario o conseguir un empleo. Solo mantente abierto a todas las posibilidades que existen ahí afuera.
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[00:14:03] Will Dean, Host: ¿Por qué optaste por esta carrera?
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[00:14:27] Deja Brown, Guest: Puedo estar de pie. Puedo estar también activo. Hice una pasantía en una clínica de fisio. Fue divertido. Fue emocionante. Aprendí mucho. Conocí a mucha gente. Pude conocer la comunidad; fue agradable ver rostros y fortalecer esa relación y ese apoyo con ellos.
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[00:14:58] Will Dean, Host: Es emocionante. ¿Qué decirle [00:15:00] al Distrito de Salud del Desierto y a la Junta de la Fundación sobre su apoyo a esta beca de One Future?
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[00:15:33] Deja Brown, Guest: Y así te doy las gracias, gracias, gracias. Bueno, y espero que sigas apoyándonos como lo has hecho hasta ahora, de verdad.
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[00:15:51] Deja Brown, Guest: Gracias.
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[00:16:02] Will Dean, Host: Ese es un futuro, F-U-T-U-R-E-C, como en 'gato', V, como en victor.org.
=== English ===
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[00:00:16] Deja Brown, Guest: Thank you. Thank you Will. It's nice to meet you.
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[00:00:20] Deja Brown, Guest: I'm doing good. Feeling pretty good about the new year. Excited to see what happens.
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[00:00:46] Will Dean, Host: And one of the reasons why we wanted to do this is because, well, two reasons. One is that we realized there's a shortage of physicians and nurses, technicians, and other healthcare professionals in the Coachella Valley, [00:01:00] and we wanted to address that and possibly increase those physicians in the valley.
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[00:01:26] Deja Brown, Guest: So I grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, uh, a good 45 minutes from Chicago. Um, in 2022, I moved down to Coachella Valley, uh, 2023. I enrolled in College of the Desert. Um, and so that's how I got my footing into the community in Coachella Valley.
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[00:01:55] Will Dean, Host: Yes. How did you find it or moving here? Was it easy to adapt? [00:02:00]
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[00:02:29] Deja Brown, Guest: Okay.
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[00:02:33] Deja Brown, Guest: Yes.
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[00:02:38] Deja Brown, Guest: at College of the Desert? My major was sports medicine. However, there was a hiccup at the last second, and so I had to change my major to liberal arts with emphasis in math and science.
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[00:03:07] Will Dean, Host: That is awesome. Tell me what is, yes. What is the ultimate career goal or dream?
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[00:03:38] Deja Brown, Guest: We have a lot of young athletes out there who are gonna go to high school and college. Um, and I wanna instill in them for the basics of. CPR in first aid. So the, the, when they move along, you know, that knowledge can be, uh, carried with them. I mean, they can share it with other people as well.
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[00:04:03] Will Dean, Host: Yes. And we're gonna talk a little bit about that, but first I wanted to find out from you, how did you learn about this scholarship and, and what did it mean for you to receive it?
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[00:04:27] Deja Brown, Guest: Flyers and everywhere. I just kept seeing him and everywhere he would go, I would al I would also be there. So one, finally, the third time we saw each other that day he gave me a flyer and told me about the one few, uh, scholarships. And this was one of them. Um, and he was like, you should apply. Not a lot of people are applying for scholarships.
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[00:05:07] Deja Brown, Guest: Received, and then received SEOD. Um, and so it felt really, really great. Like, uh, receiving it made me feel like it allows me to continue my education and to continue learning all of these new things and concepts. But also what made me really happy about receiving it is that they trust that whichever way I pursue to become a licensed physical therapist, that they're, they're alongside me.
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[00:05:37] Will Dean, Host: Right. That's excellent. Earlier I mentioned how we are challenged in terms of the lack of medical professionals here in the Coachella Valley, and one of the ways that we, I mean there's recruitment obviously that's one way, but also retaining and growing our own workforce, and, uh, I would consider you part of that since you decided that you do want [00:06:00] to work here.
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[00:06:07] Deja Brown, Guest: Just the community in the valley. I've never, I've, I've lived in a lot of different places, but I've never quite seen it. Like I've seen it in the valley. So many people come back and I've met them and I've had conversations with them and there are people, uh, who continue to grow there, even from leaving and coming back when there are people who are leaving and they're already anxious to come back.
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[00:06:58] Deja Brown, Guest: Like I feel like I [00:07:00] have to come back there That doesn't. There is no other, there is no other, uh, vision. I think.
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[00:07:21] Will Dean, Host: Couldn't wait to get away from the valley because there didn't seem to be enough here for them. And the fact that you know people and you yourself want to be here, that's very encouraging, especially when we think about your profession and the shortage that we're dealing with. What do you think needs to happen in order to not only retain people who grow up here, to come back and, and live and work here, but to recruit people?
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[00:07:52] Deja Brown, Guest: So, yes, I'm gonna give you a very general one though. But I feel like education, housing, [00:08:00] food, and job security are the four essentials that create stability and the livelihood of a community and its future. And when all four of these things align.
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[00:08:31] Deja Brown, Guest: I think that these four things have to be looked at even a little bit more every year, every time, every month. And when all of these align, when all of them, they don't have to just be perfect, but when they align just a little bit, you can see the glimpse of what can happen in the community. Like me, I was very fortunate being in college court.
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[00:09:19] Deja Brown, Guest: Which allowed me to be here at Sac State. And I am not the standard, but I am. I'm not the standard, but I am, I'm not the, I'm the exception. And I think that it's really important that we look at those four things because I know just as myself, speaking for myself, but also as friends, I also as a person who, who sees my peers, who also struggle with these things and they.
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[00:10:01] Will Dean, Host: Well said, uh, deja, so it's, it's clear that you, like all of us have had some challenges.
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[00:10:12] Deja Brown, Guest: Everyone. Everyone keeps me moving. Um, there I have a friend who couldn't go to their dream school, so I'm, I'm very fortunate to be here. I have friends who aren't able to eat every day, but I am, and so I don't take those things for granted, and I keep that in my mind and everything I do and, and everything I say, I try to lead with that on my mind and that every opportunity I get, that I really seize the opportunity.
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[00:10:57] Deja Brown, Guest: I'm gonna own my clinic, I'm going to [00:11:00] be in Coachella Valley, and that's enough for me to keep going.
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[00:11:13] Deja Brown, Guest: Yes. Yes. A lot of contenders out there. Sac State was one because of multiple things.
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[00:11:41] Deja Brown, Guest: It has to be. I was very successful there. If I want to be successful, I know for a fact that the things I did there. Can be transferred to the school and it has just about everything and a little bit more. Um, and so I'm feeling good. I already knocked down my first semester, which I did good, and [00:12:00] so I'm just.
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[00:12:25] Will Dean, Host: I love that you can step out for your education, but come back. Yes. That's important. I really love that. Anything else that you would want to say to not just, not just students who are already in COD or or in high school, but even younger students, younger black students who have a career goal or dream that maybe they haven't said out loud or they don't think is, can be a reality?
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[00:12:53] Deja Brown, Guest: to those? Students, I will say that there is more than one way to get to where you're going. I [00:13:00] think oftentimes we think of traditional ways or societal norms of how to pursue things. I did not pursue my education the traditional way at all. Um, and it's been fun. It is the most fun I've ever had when pursuing education.
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[00:13:40] Deja Brown, Guest: There's more than one way to pursue your education and to pursue higher education and to pursue your PhD to. Be an intern versus getting a job, volunteer versus getting a job. Just be open to all the possibilities out there.
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[00:14:03] Will Dean, Host: Why did you want to be in this particular career?
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[00:14:27] Deja Brown, Guest: I get to be on my feet. I get to be active. I did an internship at a physical therapist clinic. It was fun. It was exciting. I learned a lot. I met a lot of people. I got to meet the community essentially, and it was nice, you know, seeing their faces and building that relationship and building that support with them.
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[00:14:58] Will Dean, Host: That is exciting. Deja, [00:15:00] is there anything you want to say to the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation Board regarding their support for this scholarship Through one future?
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[00:15:33] Deja Brown, Guest: And so I thank you, thank you, thank you. Um, and I hope you continue to, to support us.
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[00:15:51] Deja Brown, Guest: Thank you.
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[00:16:02] Will Dean, Host: That's one future, F-U-T-U-R-E-C as in cat, V as in victor.org.
