September 15, 2006

Learning about health care careers

For the past 15 years, the MGH has taken an active role in providing summer employment to Boston area youth interested in exploring the world of health care. This summer, more than 140 students from the Timilty Middle School, East Boston High School (EBHS), the Health Careers Academy and other area schools had the opportunity to spend their vacations at the MGH learning about health care careers through the MGH Summer Jobs Program. This program — which is sponsored by the MGH Community Benefit Program and comprises three different youth employee programs — offers students summer employment at the MGH with the goal of increasing their awareness about the variety of career options in health care.

Jobs for Youth is an eight-week program offered to high school students. Participants work 25 hours per week, getting hands-on experience in health care. The program includes a number of professional development workshops, which help prepare the students for the many job opportunities available in today's workforce. This summer, students were employed in 60 departments across the MGH — including Radiology, Patient Care services and Nutrition and Food Services.

The MGH Division of Nephrology was just one area in the hospital that welcomed the young employees this summer. MGH staff members worked side-by-side with the students as they participated in research projects that included the study of kidney formation and identifying changes in the pattern of cystoskeletal distribution. "The challenge of understanding modern research problems really motivated our students and gave them a taste for what laboratory research is like," says Iain Drummond, PhD, who worked with the students. "Their enthusiasm pushed us to try some new things too; it was a win/win experience."

The MGH/Timilty Partnership SummerWorks program is a structured career exploration and employment program that offers part-time summer jobs to graduates of the Timilty Middle School. During the seven-week program, students combined their on-the-job experiences with weekly workshops that covered topics such as personal finance and goal setting. The program is funded by Partners Human Resources with help from a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This year, students worked in departments such as the Photography Lab and Police and Security.

The third component of the MGH Summer Jobs Program is the ProTech program, which is a school-to-career internship program for juniors and seniors at EBHS who are interested in pursuing health care careers. For more information about ProTech, see accompanying article in this week's Hotline.

MGH employees and students in the Jobs for Youth program