ROME, N.Y. — Rome Memorial Hospital’s three-day Health Care Academy (HCA) program last month introduced 17 campers from nine different schools to a broad array of health-care careers. The Health Care Academy was held at the hospital Aug. 2-4. 

“The students had an opportunity to meet with health-care workers from numerous departments throughout the hospital, talk about their jobs, and see them in action in addition to participating in hands-on activities,” Julie Chrysler, Rome Memorial Hospital’s director of education, volunteer services, and employee health, said in a news release. “We are eager to help these students become familiar with the broad range of opportunities that health care offers because there is a tremendous need for more people to choose these challenging and rewarding career fields.”

“When exploring careers, today’s young people are often faced with choosing between a high-tech environment and working with people,” Chrysler contended. “Health care is unique because it offers the best of both worlds.”

Area students, entering eighth or ninth grade in September, with an interest in exploring a health-care career, attended the interactive summer camp. Participants included: Rachel Bellinger, Carissa Bourgeois, and Ella Hale, eighth graders at Adirondack Central Schools; Shayla Oatman, Holland Hawkes, and Autumn Kahler, ninth graders at Camden High School; Anthony Carrock and McKenna Smyth, ninth graders at Holland Patent High School; Emery Crossley, eighth grader at Holland Patent Middle School; Peter Stokes, eighth grader at Utica Notre Dame School; Adam Myers, eighth grader at Otto Shortell Middle School; Megan Mead, ninth grader at Rome Free Academy; Madelyn Jabs, eighth grader at Saugerties Middle School; James Pike and Ashton Thompson, eighth graders at Strough Middle School; and Perri Cronk and Anna Rossi, ninth graders at Vernon Verona Sherrill High School.

The students, dressed in scrubs, met with professionals in pharmacy, nursing, respiratory, speech and physical therapy, medical imaging, the laboratory, and maternity. They also learned how to use a stethoscope, how to perform CPR, and how to operate an automatic external defibrillator (AED). 

Students spent their final day at the camp immersed in a disaster drill which featured a mock accident and a first-hand tour through the hospital’s decontamination tent. They were able to follow a patient from the accident scene to an Amcare Ambulance and through the emergency department, the release stated.

In addition to their hospital scrubs, each camper was given his/her own t-shirt, stethoscope, breakfast, and lunch, and a certificate of completion. 

 “Many of the 2017 graduates have expressed an interest in returning as a volunteer or to shadow an employee in a specific department,” Chrysler noted.

HCA Camp is only one of many educational outreach programs at Rome Memorial Hospital. 

“Career exploration and education is an ongoing initiative at Rome Memorial Hospital,” explained Chrysler. “We partner with business, education, and the community to support workforce development in our area and increase awareness of health-care careers.”

Rome Memorial Hospital said funding from its foundation and M&T Bank made the camp possible.              

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