A group of high school students entered Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital in Palos Heights last weekend, but not to seek medical care or to visit an ill or injured friend.

Instead, they were on a mission to learn more about the journey of cardiac patients and the medical professionals who treat them.

The visit was part of the inaugural year of the Northwestern Medicine Discovery Program South Region for 20 students from schools in Will and south Cook counties. The program is designed to showcase careers in health care and generating interest in young people to join the field.

“We really want to get our young people interested in health care careers. It’s not just being a nurse or doctor,” explained Anny Sandoval, director of operations for the hospital’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute. “It’s important with the state of health care.”

Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasan, a cardiologist and teacher who led students through the four cardiac rotations on Saturday, is passionate about his role in the program.

“When we look at the health care worker shortage, we realize we can’t fill our open jobs because training programs can’t fill their seats, because high school students don’t know about all the careers in health care,” he said. “If I can help people know what’s out there and that there’s something for everyone, then I’ve done my job as an educator.

“Medicine is a great field for people who want to help other people but be connected to science,” he told the students.

Other medical professionals spoke about their education and their jobs before students broke off into four groups for the interactive portion of the program.

Before the morning was done, they would see and learn about the operating room and catheterization lab where cardiac procedures are performed, as well as cardiac testing and cardiac rehab. Students were encouraged to perform echocardiograms, try on gear to protect against radiation in the cath lab and ask questions of the medical professionals in charge of each area.

“We wanted to bring exposure to some of the not-so-known career paths and do it in a way that was meaningful for students,” Sandoval said.

Some of those careers included exercise physiologist, radiology technologist nurse, respiratory therapist, radiology technologist nurse and cardiac sonographer.

Amber Wojciak, who attends Andrew High School in Tinley Park, said she is eying a career as a nurse.

“I wasn’t sure what kind of nurse,” she said. “The program is really good at exposing me to the different kinds of medical fields.”

One she explored in a previous session was respiratory therapy, which has taken on more prominence in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. “It was vital. We also learned about X-ray technicians. I thought that was pretty cool,” she said. “It also opened my world to psychiatric nursing.”

She loves the program so far. “It’s awesome because they don’t focus on the average doctor or average nurse. They bring in different fields I’ve never heard of,” she said. “It’s a really wonderful program. I look forward to the Saturdays, I really do. It’s not like we’re just sitting in a room. We’re going around the hospital. We’re going to see the equipment we’re talking about.”

Lauren Gignac, who attends Evergreen Park Community High School, has insider information about working in health care because her brother is a certified registered nurse anesthetist. But still, she’s “seen a lot of things I wouldn’t have known about,” she said. “I would definitely recommend it for people coming in next year.”

Andrew High School student Emma Friel also enjoys the program. “I think it’s inspirational to see so many different people and hear their stories. It shows a lot of perseverance.”

She’s been surprised by the number of careers in health care, “how many different paths are out there. I’ve seen a lot of people have a more convoluted journey. Everyone ends up being happy taking care of people.”

Ulises Cardenas II, a student at Evergreen Park Community High School who wants to explore sports medicine, said it’s an enjoyable way to learn about prospective careers.

“I think they do a fantastic job in making sure we the students feel at home and comfortable. You walk into the meeting and there is automatically food and they provide fantastic people to come in and talk about their careers,” he said. “They make it a very homey environment.”

His biggest surprise came during a virtual session at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “They showed a heart and a body and stuff like that — it shocked me,” he said. “It was my first time seeing a real heart and a real lung. It shocked me a lot.”

Sandoval said health care careers outreach is continuing with “road shows” at other area high schools, including a session at Bremen High in Midlothian that was also broadcast at other schools to an audience of about 300 students. They’re planning next to be at a career fair at Eisenhower High in Blue Island.

“It’s also a passion of mine. I would love to expose health care careers to students but also to students in underserved communities,” she added.

Mandee Polonsky, director of Northwestern Medicine Academy Youth Programming, said exposing students to options is important because they often think about only being a nurse or pediatrician.

“It’s what you know. We try to show them that those are incredible careers, but there are so many other things you can do in health care,” she said. “Anny will show them radiographers, cardiac techs — all these jobs that students don’t know about and don’t take as long to get through school so you can get to a great career with a two-year certificate or degree.

“We try to bring a range of folks in careers so they can see it’s not just nurses and doctors in hospitals but a whole lot of other people too,” she added. “That’s what makes it important. We say ‘You can’t be it if you can’t see it.’”

Polonsky said the application process for the Discovery Program usually opens in August and closes at the end of September, and the program runs from November through the end of the school year. It’s been offered at the Chicago hospital campus since the 1990s and started the south chapter this year after acquiring Palos Hospital.

“As Northwestern has expanded, we’ve expanded the program,” Polonsky said, noting the application process involves submitting an essay and a recommendation.

“We’re really looking for students who have a passion or interest in health care,” she said. “We ask for a recommendation so we look for who is really excited about medicine and science.”

This year the program will offer another bonus to students who successfully complete the program: several paid summer internships. It’s a six-week program “for a more in-depth experience,” Polonsky said.

Staff also are hoping to find students who might not otherwise get this kind of exposure to career options.

“We really want to focus on underrepresented minorities in medicine. We ask students if they are eligible for free and reduced lunch. We look at the student’s ZIP code and we’ve mapped out what we consider underrepresented neighborhoods,” Polonsky said. “It’s an incredible look inside the hospital and all the career options there are. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but it’s where we try to focus.”

Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.