Bread of Life Academy, a program under nonprofit Bread of Life Inc.—a Quest for Health Equity (Q4HE) grantee—recently held a graduation ceremony to celebrate a graduating class of 40 students pursuing careers as phlebotomists and community health workers (CHWs).

The Bread of Life Academy provides educational opportunities for marginalized and under-resourced individuals in the Houston area, equipping them with essential skills to enhance their employability in the healthcare sector while also addressing critical shortages in allied health professions. The program focuses on training and certifying students as CHWs and phlebotomists to help address critical shortages in these allied health professions.

"The demand for allied health jobs in Texas has reached unprecedented levels, significantly impacting healthcare accessibility and quality," remarked Dr. Morgan Rasmus Alfred, Vice President of Education & Director of Bread of Life Academy. "Our graduates play a vital role in bridging this gap, particularly in marginalized communities, where access to healthcare services is often limited. We are grateful for the support from the Quest Diagnostics Foundation, which has helped us continue to bring training for healthcare workers and job opportunities to these under-resourced communities.”

The Bread of Life Academy is one program area of BOL’s Healthy Houston Collective, a multi-year initiative focused on addressing healthcare disparities in underserved communities in Houston and Harris County. The Quest Diagnostics Foundation, as part of the Q4HE initiative, provided grant funding to support the launch of the Collective in 2022 to help improve access to affordable healthcare in marginalized communities and reduce health disparities in Houston for more than 9,000 people.

Learn more! Visit www.breadoflifeinc.org to learn more about BOL and its programs.

Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics works across the healthcare ecosystem to create a healthier world, one life at a time. We provide diagnostic insights from the results of our laboratory testing to empower people, physicians and organizations to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from one of the world's largest databases of de-identifiable clinical lab results, Quest's diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve healthcare management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives and create a healthier world.

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