UMass Medical School hosts career awareness conference for Massachusetts students
May 10, 2010
At UMass Medical School on May 8, area high
school students got a taste of what types of jobs are available in the
health care industry. Members of Massachusetts chapters of the Health
Occupations Students of America (HOSA) organization participated in the
state’s first HOSA Student Leadership Conference, which focused on
promoting health care careers. HOSA is a national student organization
with the mission of enhancing the delivery of quality health care by
promoting career opportunities in health care to young people. The
Massachusetts chapters are part of a new partnership between HOSA and
the Massachusetts Area Health Education Centers (MassAHEC) Network,
which raises health career awareness by inspiring and training a
diverse range of health professionals to practice in communities where
the need is greatest.
The day-long conference featured
interactive learning and competitions. Students gave science-fair style
poster presentations that featured their research about their career of
interest. The presentations were judged by Warren Ferguson, MD, vice
chair and associate professor of family medicine & community
health, and Michael Hirsch, MD, professor of surgery and pediatrics and
chief of pediatric surgery and trauma for UMass Memorial Health Care.
“It is refreshing to see kids going beyond their comfort zone to
participate and excel in these events,” said Sharon Grundel, MEd,
manager of workforce development for MassAHEC and MassAHEC HOSA
coordinator. “HOSA gives young people interested in health care similar
encouragement and recognition enjoyed by peers engaged in other
extracurricular activities like sports and student government.”
Other
conference highlights included “Speed Dating for Health Careers,” tours
of a LifeFlight helicopter and the Emergency Department at UMass
Memorial Medical Center, and hands-on clinical demonstrations. Gina
Smith, RN, director of emergency preparedness for UMass Memorial and
commander of UMMS Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT-MA2), gave a
presentation about a recent DMAT mission in Haiti.
The MassAHEC
HOSA collaboration has been launched to promote academic-community
partnerships that increase student access to health career education,
field experiences and community service learning. “MassAHEC focuses
efforts on increasing the diversity of the health care workforce and
HOSA’s goal is to increase the health care workforce overall,”
explained Grundel, adding that many HOSA leadership activities address
the full scope of career development skills, including persuasive
public speaking and creative problem solving. “Our missions are
complementary.”
To date, MassAHEC HOSA boasts seven chapters
with 86 student members. The largest organization operating in
America’s high schools for students enrolled in health occupations and
health sciences programs and those interested in pursuing a career in
the health professions, HOSA works closely with local and state
educators to build a pipeline to attract qualified students to the
health care industry.
Utilizing bridges already built by
MassAHEC, this partnership promises to expand and enrich tomorrow’s
health care workforce by forging links between MassAHEC HOSA and the
broad health care community. “Our affiliation with HOSA allows us to
reach and serve more pre- and post-secondary schools with the same type
of professional development for health sciences students and educators
that we offer via other AHEC programs,” said MassAHEC Director Linda
Cragin, MS.