Somerton health college launches summer program for Yuma County students

The College of Health Careers in Somerton is using its Nuestros Niños summer program to build a local healthcare pipeline, giving high school students hands-on training in community care, first aid, emergency response and public service.

The six-week initiative, announced June 5, is aimed at students who may one day work in clinics, hospitals, community health organizations or other allied health jobs across southern Yuma County. That focus lands in a place where healthcare access, bilingual service needs and staffing shortages often overlap, and where local students can see a direct path from school to work without leaving the county.

Somerton makes sense as a training ground. The city’s 2024 population estimate was 14,902, and 95.8% of residents identified as Hispanic or Latino. Census data also show that 88.7% of households speak a language other than English at home, which helps explain why culturally responsive and bilingual health training can matter so much in daily care.

Nuestros Niños is not new. KYMA reported in 2023 that the summer camp had already been running for 25 years, with students doing community census work on vaccinations and immunizations across Yuma County, especially in San Luis and Somerton. That history suggests the program is more than a seasonal camp. It has long acted as an entry point into the work of public health, outreach and neighborhood-level service.

The newest version of the program continues that practical approach. Along with exposure to health careers, students are learning how to respond to emergencies and support their communities in real time. KYMA also reported that two past participants were recently recognized for decisive action during medical emergencies that saved two lives, a sign that the lessons can translate quickly into life-or-death situations.

The program also fits into a broader regional push to strengthen the health workforce. Yuma County’s 2023 Community Health Assessment, led by the Yuma County Public Health Services District with local organizations and stakeholders, and the county’s 2025 Community Health Improvement Plan both point to chronic disease, mental health and substance use as major priorities. Arizona’s Rural Health Transformation Program says more than 786,000 Arizonans live in rural areas where care is hard to reach, and the state is investing in workforce pipelines that begin in K-12.

That need is visible in Somerton and beyond. Sunset Health said in 2024 that its new Somerton facility would grow from 8,100 square feet to 27,000 square feet and could serve more than 60,000 patients a year. Onvida Health announced in 2025 a 50,000-square-foot Health Careers Center in Yuma with Arizona Western College, expected to open in early 2027. In 2023, the Regional Center for Border Health’s College of Health Careers also offered a Licensed Practical Nurse program in Somerton with 16 students in its inaugural class.

Taken together, those efforts show a county trying to train its own health workers where they live. Nuestros Niños is one more step toward keeping that talent in Yuma County.