OXNARD : 13 From College Named to Health-Care Study

Thirteen Oxnard College students are among 50 Southern California high school and community college students selected for a summer health-care education program that is part of a nationwide launch of President Clinton’s national service program.

The students were chosen from colleges whose enrollment includes a high percentage of minorities underrepresented in the health care profession, including Latinos and African-Americans, said Gwen van Servellen, a professor in the UCLA School of Nursing.

During the nearly 10-week program, the students will study health-care issues at UCLA and observe practicing professionals, in addition to working directly with low-income families in Los Angeles County to teach preventive health care.

The students will be paid minimum wage and receive a $1,000 stipend to spend on further education, Van Servellen said. Besides Oxnard College, students were chosen from UCLA and Southwest Community College in Los Angeles.

“The idea is to get them interested in their own communities, in the inner city, in treating their own people and to stay with it even though it may not be as financially rewarding,” Van Servellen said.

Those selected had to have at least a 3.0 grade-point average and an interest in a health-care career.

The students will be among 1,500 young people nationally who will participate in the first phase of Clinton’s national service program slated to employ 150,000 people ages 17 to 25 by 1997.