A group of Riverside High School seniors has been exploring hospital jobs as part of a new Intro to Healthcare class, and a couple are considering jobs in that field as a result of their experiences.
The class was launched this year as a partnership between Riverside Schools and University Hospitals TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township. Representatives from both institutions said that a goal of theirs is to help students find potential careers in healthcare.
“When we surveyed the kids about career interests several years ago, health care came up in probably the top three or four of fields that kids were interested in,” said Riverside Curriculum Director Melissa Mlakar.
“One of our key principles at UH is really workforce development,” added Robyn Strosaker, president and chief operating officer of UH Lake Health Medical Centers.
Strosaker added that students may not be aware of hospital jobs outside of doctor or nurse roles.
“We’re really hoping that we could expose them to many, many options and maybe light a spark that helps them with their future,” she said.
TriPoint Operations and Clinical Services Director Jackie Sherry said that students can observe roles in two “tracks.” The ancillary support services track includes jobs in radiology, pharmacy, the hospital’s lab, transportation, environmental services and food and nutrition.
The clinical track allows students to observe jobs in the hospital’s emergency department and inpatient wing, added Danielle Sindelar, chief nursing officer for UH’s TriPoint and Beachwood medical centers.
“They’ve worked with nurses, they’ve worked with our ancillary support services like our patient care nursing assistants, they’ve interacted with our physicians, our nurse practitioners, and then also our physical therapy and social work teams on the inpatient units,” she said. “So, really a full continuum of all the care that you need as an inpatient or as an outpatient in the health care system.”
Ava Swank said that she enjoyed working in outpatient therapy, where she was able to interact with “a lot of people with sports injuries and stuff like that.” Inpatient therapy was more difficult “because everybody in their rooms were in a lot of pain.”
Austin Takacs said that he originally joined the class because a friend was in it. After learning more about radiology and observing x-rays, he decided to study radiology next year at Lakeland Community College.
“I didn’t really know what it was about at first, but once I got to see what it is, I was immediately interested in radiology and the medical field,” he said.
On the other hand, Bethany Broski said that she already had an interest in medical professions when she joined the class. She added that her experiences since joining helped her decide to study nursing when she enters college.
She said that her favorite part of the class has been working in the hospital’s tele-surge unit, where she was able to “see what it was like to work with patients.”
Students in the class can also earn industry-recognized credentials in areas like CPR and bleeding control, Mlakar said. They can also develop soft skills.
“Some of the students mentioned they’ve had the opportunity to just talk to patients, and I think, to Dr. Mlakar’s component, those soft skills are something that’s really important to learn, and so that gives them an opportunity to interact in different ways with different generations and different people across the organization,” Sindelar added.
Teacher Sara Ross said that UH representatives told students which jobs they could enter out of high school and which ones would require additional training. Some students have begun considering how to plan for future jobs.
Though they have not talked about next year, Mlakar and the representatives from UH expressed interest in bringing the program back.
Mlakar said that the program is open to seniors. District Marketing and Communications Director Nick Carrabine added that the students visit the hospital once every two weeks.
“A lot of times students graduate and they just made it through the finish line and then it’s, ‘Now what’s next?’” said Riverside Superintendent Chris Rateno. “They’re allowed to see their ‘what’s next’ now. They make connections with people at UH, it’s in their backyard, so it’s a great partnership.”
“We’re not trying to be Auburn (Career Center),” Mlakar added. “We aren’t going to produce nurses, you know, we’re not doing an STNA (state-tested nursing assistant) program, we’re not producing the physical therapy assistants, nothing like that. What we can do, though, is give kids an experience that helps them know whether or not this is a good career path for them.”
