They came in with questions, and lots of them. Chief among them: What do I want to do for a living?
Five weeks later, the 13 teenage participants in St. Tammany Health System’s inaugural High School Summer Shadow Program left with answers. Perhaps even more importantly, they left with a touch of clarity about their futures.
“My long-term takeaway,” one of them said on the program’s closing day, “is that I am in the correct field. (Healthcare) is definitely something I want to do.”
A more intensive cousin to the health system’s Health Tech Connect Camp, which concluded June 14, the Shadow Program saw participants – mostly seniors, with a sprinkling of juniors and sophomores, together representing 10 local high schools – each spending 21 hours throughout July exploring the array of careers available in the healthcare arena.
That included up-close looks at healthcare professionals in action in the Inpatient Pharmacy at St. Tammany Parish Hospital, in the Cath Lab, in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Respiratory and Radiology units, the Laboratory and other parts of the hospital.
In total, the 13 students logged over 270 hours of observation.
“There are just so many things to do in healthcare,” said Bridget Lobello, a former Emergency Department nurse who now serves as the health system’s director of Business Development – and who participated with other health system colleagues in a panel discussion on the program’s closing day.
Earlier in the day, the students heard from Kelly Barre Pounds, an M.D. candidate at LSU School of Medicine, on “The Path to Medical School,” a presentation filled with practical tips and advice on the next steps in the process; and a separate presentation from representatives of Southeastern Louisiana University’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Later, the students took turns sharing their impressions and key takeaways from the program.
For some, it affirmed their career goals. For others, it exposed them to potential new paths.
For all of them, it represented an opportunity they were grateful to have experienced.
“Because of the shadowing program,” one of them said, “I am more set on my future now than I ever thought I would be before summer. I’m proud to have been chosen for this program, and it was worth every second.”