175 students(20 from each school district) from around Genesee County participated in the first annual BEA(Business Education Alliance) Health Career workshop and Career Day at GCC on Tuesday.
It was a chance for students who are interested in a healthcare career to meet with medical professionals and see what they do and how they do their jobs and what classes and training are necessary.
Students answered survey questions as far as interests and ranked 15 different healthcare professions earlier in the school year. Each student was matched with a healthcare professional that matched their interests and was given the opportunity to meet with them for 25 minutes. Fields of profession included lab technicians, first responders, nurses, physical therapists,sonographers, radiologist, dentistry and more.
“With HIPAA and safety regulations we really can’t arrange a real job shadow in the healthcare profession,” says Karyn Winters, Director/Business Education Alliance/Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.
“Here we take the patient component out of it and students still get the opportunity to learn about these health careers before they choose what career path they want to go with.”
Winters says there were also several employers on hand who were looking for people, no real experience needed, just a couple of months of training or maybe an Associates Degree, that were looking to hire because they are desperate for people.
After the workshop, students then participated in a Healthcare College and Career Fair in the Forum at GCC where they were able to meet with representatives from over 20 colleges and health care providers.
“It really is a one stop shop, they’ve learned about the career, now here is the chance to see what colleges, locally, offer programs that would help them get into their profession.”
Winters says the concentration of this event was centered around healthcare because over the next 10 years 26 million jobs will be added to the healthcare profession.
“Baby boomers are aging out and people will be retiring and we are going to have all of these empty positions left to fill unless we are proactive in talking to youth.”
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