SRU introduces students to health care field
SLIPPERY ROCK — A desire to bring more health care students to Slippery Rock University — and increase the industry’s workforce — has led stakeholders to expand their efforts.
When SRU’s College of Health Professions first launched a pilot program with Slippery Rock Area School District and Allegheny Health Network Grove City Hospital to introduce high school students to various paths in the industry, a little over 30 students participated.
On Tuesday, Oct. 7, 97 students from multiple school districts participated in this year’s Next Generation Health Care Event. An expanded scope of districts and health care partners were involved in reaching out to current high school students.
“I think once a person comes to campus and they see what all is going on here, that’s a big selling point. They get to meet the people. They get to see the opportunity for hands-on experience and being able to work with the faculty,” Christine Karshin, dean of the college, said. “It’s a combination of factors I think. One, help cement the possibility of going into health care; and two, showing that Slippery Rock gives them opportunities for their careers.”
Butler Area, Freeport Area and Grove City Area school district students joined this year’s event. Freeport students toured ACMH Hospital later in the afternoon, while others went back to AHN Grove City to tour the medical facilities.
Students had the chance to rotate through lab programs for 11 different areas of health care: athletic training, physician assistant, physical therapy, public health, recreational therapy, exercise science, occupational therapy, nursing, psychology and health care administration and management.
The programs enabled students to participate in hands-on labs and hear small lectures from faculty about what the careers entail, what the students can expect and what undergraduate and graduate programs are like.
“Anything that exposes them to this many disciplines, they can figure out what sparks their passion so they can find a career path and life path. If your passionate about it you’re going to be successful,” said Chris Williams, administrative assistant to the dean and organizer of the event. “And if we can expose the students to as many as we can and let them pick and choose, I think that’s a win for the university, the high school, the students, their parents, too.”
The labs included a range of activities related to taking care of others, such as learning how to use medical equipment, completing tasks while wearing impairment goggles and interacting with a therapy dog.
“I feel like when you’re in high school, your exposure to areas like health care is limited and, if you know you’re interested, it helps make an informed decision on what path is best for them,” Stephanie Young, a College of Health Professions faculty member, said.
For the physical therapy lab, students rode around the halls in wheelchairs to gain a better understanding of conditions physical therapists treat and what an inpatient setting can be like.
“We wanted to focus on inpatient rehab, letting them experience it. If you see someone in the community in a wheelchair, it may look easy, but in reality, it can be challenging. It gives the opportunity to step in the patients’ shoes a bit and build empathy for everyone and recognize barriers that can happen,” Young said.
For Karshin and the college’s leadership, programs like the Next Generation Health Care Event helps all parties involved. For the students, she said, the program offers something much more immersive than coming to any ordinary open house event. It’s also great for teachers who want to expose their students to as many different opportunities and potential future paths as possible.
The program, Karshin said, is a great example of a “trifecta” of partnerships between high schools with students, colleges looking for enrollment and industry looking for its future work force.
“We have to really be inventive in how we partner with others, how we partner with local school districts and our industry partners, in our case the health care industry, and how do we get these entities together,” Karshin said. “Because industry is in great need of a work force, Slippery Rock University and other institutions are interested in enrollment, we want our programs to be at their max and high schools want to help create that bridge for their students.”
Students at the event said the reason they showed interest in SRU’s program, in addition to looking for a potential future path after high school, was because health care appealed to their desire to make difference by helping others.
“I definitely think it’s good to look at future careers and get an idea of what we want to do in our future. I just like the idea of helping others,” Freeport junior Kaylin Rodell said.
“I know I want to go into health care, just trying to figure out what path I want to take. It was helpful getting insight on this. I like helping people, I like the idea of doing stuff person to person,” Freeport junior Nicolette Zollinger added.
