Working at a hospital doesn’t require a person to have training and education to be a doctor or a nurse.
Jobs like pharmacist, radiographer, coder, phlebotomist, biomedical technician, accountant and information technology technician or someone who works in nutrition services, environmental services or plant operations are just as crucial.
Julie Warren, director of human resources at Schneck Medical Center, made that point clear to the 19 local middle school and high school students who participated in the Health Career Discovery Program at the Seymour hospital.
“It takes so much to run a hospital that if health care is really what you want to be, don’t think that you have to just be limited to someone who is always taking care of patients,” she said at the beginning of Tuesday’s opening session.
“Now with that being said, that’s the majority of what the folks here at Schneck do, and that’s a huge, important part and it’s really what our mission is is to be able to take care of our community and our patients,” she said. “Hopefully, over the next couple of days, you discover different types of information about health careers at Schneck.”
The program featured a variety of speakers and tours to learn more about surgical services, nursing, imaging, pediatrics, medical assisting, rehab therapists, dietetics, emergency services and more.
“There are so many different careers and opportunities at Schneck, and even though you’re young, it’s never too early to really start discovering and exploring and thinking about what type of career you would like to pursue,” Warren told the students. “You don’t have to be a nurse. You don’t have to be a doctor. … You can be a business major like I am, be an engineer, dietitian, accountant.”
Emily Burgess, a human resources generalist at Schneck, organized this year’s Health Career Discovery Program. It hadn’t been conducted since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There has been research to show that you need to speak to kids as young as middle school to see what they’re interested in and actually get them interested in health care, so it’s from a recruiting standpoint,” she said of the purpose of the program.
By interacting with health care professionals, she said the program also shows the youth Schneck has providers who care for them, their family members and the community.
“We’re a small town versus a larger hospital. I think that’s the difference here at Schneck is most of these students probably know somebody that has had a baby here or had surgery here or been cared for by these nurses and doctors,” she said.
Interaction with Schneck staff happened right away Tuesday as students were asked to help with a simulation code.
That team included a hospitalist physician, an intensive care unit nurse, an emergency room nurse, a respiratory therapist and a house supervisor. Students were called up to help with CPR and intubation and also run a machine.
Next, two pediatricians spoke about their job, and then the group walked over to rehabilitation services to hear from a physical therapist, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist.
After that, they participated in four interactive nursing activities and heard from an anesthesiologist and a surgeon.
On the second day, they learned about diagnostic imaging, pharmacy and internal medicine, walked outside to learn about Jackson County Emergency Medical Services and a medical helicopter and watched a cooking demonstration.
During the two days, Warren and Burgess also let the students know about other opportunities available to them at Schneck.
The hospital offers a Junior Volunteer Program, which allows those ages 14 and up the chance to volunteer within a hospital department over the summer. Information is released in the spring each year, and there’s also an opportunity for them to later apply for a scholarship when they are a senior in high school.
“It’s a really good opportunity to see the actual inner workings and what makes a hospital work,” Warren said.
There’s also a job shadow program available at Schneck.
“That’s a really good opportunity, as well, to get that realistic preview of what it’s like to be a nurse or to be a radiology tech or whatever it might be,” Warren said.
As the students grow older and progress in their education, Warren said they can be an intern or a clinical rotation student while they are in college.
Schneck also offers a tuition assistance program to help students pay for different types of health care careers, she said.
“There are just a wide variety of opportunities for you to learn more about health care, and if that’s an area that you’d like to be in as you get older and pursue your education in whatever your eventual career will be, we as your local hospital want to help you in whatever path that is that you choose,” Warren said.
Burgess told the students she did job shadowing and volunteering before serving as a human resources intern her senior year of high school, and she worked with a human resources generalist. Then she went on to earn a degree in health administration and returned to Schneck to work as an HR generalist.
“There are lots of opportunities to kind of dip your feet in, see if it’s something you like before you’re actually in college,” she said. “It’s a great program we have here to get students involved.”
Rachael Mount, a senior at Scottsburg High School, was among the students participating in the Health Career Discovery Program.
She said she was drawn to the program because her aunt is a nurse at Schneck.
“I’m interested in the health care field. I’m just not sure where I want to be, so I’m trying to figure that out,” she said.
Mount said it was good to hear from a variety of health care professionals.
“I think it’s nice that you get to see so many different careers, and they really show you the good, the bad and the ugly,” she said. “That’s part of what they do every day, and they allow you to ask a lot of questions. It was very interesting to get a perspective for how other people feel in different situations.”
Of all of the things she experienced, Mount said she really liked the surgery presentation. While she’s not sure if she wants to be a surgeon, she thought it was interesting to ask Dr. Amanda Dick questions and see the different things she gets to do.
“I hope to just discover what I want to do in the future and maybe get a perspective for what other people do in the health care field just to get a feel and appreciation for what they do, as well,” she said of her takeaway from the program.
At a glance
Schneck Medical Center offers several programs for students, including the Health Career Discovery Program, Junior Volunteer Program, job shadowing, internships and a tuition assistance program.
For information, email Emily Burgess at [email protected] or call 812-523-4841.