South Heights Elementary School kindergartners are bringing all kinds of stuffed animals to the the annual Teddy Bear Clinic, run by the Health Sciences Program at Henderson High School, Kentucky
Children enter the bustling clinic and mark on a sheet the spots that ail their stuffed monkey or dinosaur. Senior Isabella Huertes asks them, "which spots hurts the worst?"
“And they'll pick, and we'll either give them a shot or we'll fix it with a tourniquet or clean it off or something to help make it feel better.”
She wraps gauze around popsicle sticks to stabilize a Teddy Bear’s broken “bone.”
The main point of this event is to assuage children’s concerns with going to the doctor. But the program overall is to introduce students to medical careers.
Health Sciences teacher Cynthia Nunn said there’s growing demand for workers in the medical field.
“It's not just nurses. It's shortages everywhere," Nunn said. "So the fact that we need health care workers is an understatement. It is certainly higher demand field than what I've ever known it to be.”
Nunn said their program offers three pathways to students — medical assisting, nursing and an undecided pathway. “So the seniors that make up this class are all interested in healthcare, some of them know exactly what they want to do, and some are still exploring,” she said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), healthcare occupations are projected to grow much faster than the average through 2032.
The BLS reports that there is an annual need for 1.8 million health care professionals in the US.
Deaconess Health System in Evansville could easily hire 300 nurses in 2024, but they won’t be able to, said Katie Burnett, director of HR administration.
“When it really comes to nursing or pharmacists, or really any clinical position across the board — there's just not enough of them to go around. So we're trying to help build our own and build interest.”
Hospital systems are working directly with school districts to fill demand.
For example, Ascension St. Vincent, also in Evansville, has renewed a weeklong health careers camp and started a pilot program hiring high schoolers as clinical trainees
Jessica McLeod is recruitment, retention and recognition coordinator.
“If they need volunteer hours through their school, we have programs that they can do, with all different areas,” she said. “Several units now take volunteer students, gift shops, things like that.”
She said the need is increasing as professionals retire from the workforce, and the general population also ages and experiences illnesses.
Deaconess also has several programs such as working with the Health Sciences Institute offered at the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation and several other districts.
At Central High School, EVSC senior Kaylee Magro is fielding questions from peers following her capstone presentation on ectopic pregnancies. She’s part of the EVSC’s Academy of Science and Medicine (ASM). It helped her decide to pursue a career in pediatric medicine.
“I knew I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what," Magro said. "And with this opportunity to shadow medical professionals with going into the hospitals, learning and actually (getting) hands-on experiences, I think is really helped me push towards medical field.”
Andrew Freeman is the principal of Central High School and ASM, which partners with local health systems to expose high school students to careers.
“So it could be that they're going straight to college to get a bachelor's in nursing,” he said. “Could be that they're going to college to get a bachelor's in biology because they want to do pre-med. It could be that they were wanting to get a bachelor's in chemistry and they want to be a pharmaceutical scientist.”
Students job shadow professionals and get lots of experience over four years.
Back at the Teddy Bear Clinic at Henderson High School, Health Sciences students are showing kids how to properly wash their hands at a sink near the exit.
Teacher Cynthia Nunn said her students have several options after this program.
“They have the opportunity to go into nursing school — some of them are already certified nurse aides; they have the opportunity to be certified medical administrative assistants, several of them have already passed that certification.
Some of them go on to be radiologist, some of them go on to work in IT. Some of them who may be want to work behind the scenes, maybe they want to go and work on equipment and healthcare. So lots of different options.”
Whatever they decide to do, there will be a growing need for physicians, nurses and most other health professionals.
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