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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Career Preppies

How young is too young to start a career? Educators in Palmdale think it’s always better to stay ahead of the curve. This fall the new Palmdale Preparatory Academy will open its doors to 100 incoming seventh-grade students who will participate in a curriculum with a focus on health care careers. While the class material will cover health, the main lesson is about providing care. Tim Klein, an emergency medical technician and a coordinator for Palmdale Prep, said the service mentality is what defines health care, so it’s important for students to start with that mindset. “(In health care) you are going to see a person at the worst time of their life,” he explained. “And they are going to remember you for the rest of their life, not by what you were wearing but how you communicated to them.” Students will have a chance to design a program that focuses on care and communication with others. For example, some students will have the opportunity to design a project that will activate the muscles of special needs student engaged in sports. “They will be learning lot of soft skills because they are interacting with the public,” said Klein. “It’s about elevating another human, and getting them to the next level.” Business connection The goal of Palmdale Prep isn’t to push students into health careers. It’s aimed at allowing students to explore their options and learn practical skills. “There is as much value in finding out that you are not interested in something versus finding something you are interested in,” said Susan Studdert, director of rehabilitation services at Antelope Valley Hospital. “They (students) are very fortunate to have the ability to get first-hand exposure to areas that they may be interested in.” As a liaison between the hospital and the academy, Studdert has seen many students come as interns. Inside the hospital, students shadow both clinical and non-clinical health care careers. In some instances, students can get hired out of high school in entry-level lab or patient transportation positions. However, most move on to obtain more education and certifications. “It’s encouraging to know that students have the opportunity to support themselves by utilizing the skills that they have learned in high school,” said Studdert. “Kids always say ‘Why would I need to know that?’ But this program is very good at answering.” For Studdert, the program is essential because it’s growing the next generation of health providers. “These are students who will be taking care of us,” said Studdert. “It’s a growing area so it’s important to spark the interest of the student early on.” At Palmdale Prep, the seventh-grade students will be paired with junior and senior students who will serve as their mentors. The students will regularly be exposed to variety of hospital equipment, most available at the school. “As an intern, the worst thing is for a student to ask a doctor in front of a patient ‘What does that thing do?’” said Klein at Palmdale Prep. “The second you put on the scrubs, society is going to see you as a professional.” Like the high school program, Palmdale Prep plans to build a connection between what students are learning at school and what’s happening in health professions. Sometimes it’s as simple as integrating the history of medicine and the impact health care had on historical events. “The industry raves about our students,” said Klein. “It’s because they come with a great background knowledge and basic communication skills.” Studdert agrees that students who come through this program are highly professional and more importantly, enthusiastic. “They are a refreshing change,” said Studdert. “They are like sponges; they want information and they are eager to absorb it.” That’s what happened to Crystal Solis, who graduated from Palmdale High School’s Health Careers Academy this summer. She recalled that she was already looking into health careers as early as middle school. She had contemplated on the idea of working with kids. “But when I was rotating, going into the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), and shadowing was incredible,” she said. “Everything I saw left me speechless. It was so much to take in.” There, she decided she wanted to become a neonatologist. As part of that plan, she will be heading to UC San Diego in the fall, to study microbiology and business administration. Ahead of that, she plans to take her Emergency Medical Technician exam and California certified medical assistant exam. But beyond the eye-opening experiences and dedicated instructors, Solis said the sense of belonging was the best part of the program. “One thing I really loved was the family connection,” said Solis. “You instantly felt connected with the students, because we all had similar interests.” And what about the new program at Palmdale Prep? How will it fare to her high school program? “I have to admit I’m a little jealous,” she said. “I would have wanted to be part of that. I’m excited to see how it will be and what opportunities it will bring.” Program genesis Health care career education program for secondary schools is nothing new. The Palmdale High School’s Health Careers Academy has been around for over 20 years with more than 400 graduates each year. The program started when the community approached a biology teacher and expressed their need for more health workers. Currently there are 27 high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District that has a health career education program, with five programs in the Valley. While most programs focus on patient care, some programs can get highly technical. In the case of Palmdale Prep, Antelope Valley Union High School District decided to open the public charter school following the long-running success of Palmdale High’s academy, which has placed interns at local private clinics and hospitals such as Antelope Valley Hospital and Palmdale Regional Medical Center. The public charter school is free to attend, and will accept students through an application process. Applicants will be entered into a lottery system if their number exceeds the available spaces. Programs like the one in Palmdale High is referred to as Career Technical Education. It’s supported by the state as well as the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Freddy Saucedo, a coordinator for CTE programs at Los Angeles County, said the biggest challenge in implementing a program in schools has been changing the mindset that vocational education is for group of students that are not on track to graduate. Despite this widespread belief, many community colleges have career education programs already in place, as an extension of the ones provided to secondary education students. “But by that time (college), if there wasn’t an exploratory program the students have a hard time matriculating,” said Saucedo. “The idea is to catch them, expose them at a secondary level. This way, by the time they reach college level, there is a clear focus and the possibility of them completing the program is high.” Recently there has been a big push to implement CTE programs. In February, the California Assembly passed a bill to distribute CTE incentive grants to schools. This year will be the first year the grants will be distributed. The enthusiasm for health care career education is not just at the state level. John Paramo, the director of secondary education at Burbank Unified said the school district will be adding a new health care career track for the fall. “One of the things we do is a climate survey for students, faculty, parents and the community,” said Paramo. “A lot of the data and student interest lately has been on health care careers.” That doesn’t come as a surprise, as a labor shortage has become an issue in the health industry. A 2013 report published by the World Health Organization predicted that the world will be short of 12.9 million health care workers by 2035.

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