More than 25 Colorado Springs-area high school students recently completed a pilot program designed to give them an up-close look at the broad spectrum of career opportunities available in the field of health care.
Healthcare Summer Camp, a joint initiative spearheaded by the Pikes Peak Workforce Center and Pikes Peak State College’s health sciences division, is a four-day interactive crash course in a range of health care disciplines, including surgical technology, dental work, physical therapy, blood drawing and nursing.
Students from Harrison District 2, Colorado Springs District 11 and Manitou Springs District 14 with an interest in a health care career spent the week at the PPSC Rampart campus, getting hands-on training at the school’s Center for Healthcare and Simulation .
“The purpose of the program is to give students an advanced look at health care careers so that they can make informed choices,” said Bob Gemignani, director of the Pikes Peak Business and Education Alliance, the Workforce Center’s student career development arm.
“There’s a lot of research and data over the last 20 years that indicates some significant economic damage to students making bad college decisions. A lot of kids go to college, but they don’t know what they want to major in, they don’t know what the economic opportunities are, or the jobs that are in high demand in our community. This program was designed to help students connect those decisions.”
The simulation center is a state-of-the-art facility that allows students to apply what they learn in class through tactile learning experiences that closely resemble real-world scenarios , according to Joseph Charleman, PPSC’s executive director of health sciences.
“Our goal is that students get a really good look at programs before they enroll in them,” Charleman said. “Now they can make an informed decision on where they can see themselves.”
Programs like the summer camp can also develop confident, focused students who will eventually help bolster a health care workforce shortage that will likely worsen before it improves, Charleman said.
“We’re headed for a health care crisis within the next few years,” he said. “We don’t have enough people to staff those jobs.”
According to the American Hospital Association, experts expect a shortage of as many as 100,000 U.S. health care workers by 2028, which would cause scheduling backlogs, overworked employees and an overall decline in patient care.
“Americans deserve quality health care,” Charleman said. “The next population that’s going to help us fill this void is our high school students. We have to show these students that these programs are available to them.”
The camp participants experienced a busy week, with an almost nonstop flow of information, according to Julie Julian, PPSC’s director of health sciences accreditation.
“In just a few days, they’ve gone through a number of patient care scenarios that are as close to real life as we can make them,” Julian said. “They’ve done eye exams, practiced phlebotomy, bandaging and wound care, vitals and pulse oxygen readings, on-site trauma treatment, dental imaging, and more.”
Several students said they found the experience eye-opening.
“It was very interactive and informative,” said Nadya Sanchez, a rising senior at Sierra High School. “I got a lot of information on a lot of different medical fields.”
Sanchez said she was fascinated with the realism of the simulations.
“There was a mannequin that was so realistic, it had eyes that would follow you around the room,” she said.
