Intense learning, hands-on experience, soft skills, time management, resilience, and personal growth are all key skills of learning to be a healthcare worker. Some people in their educational career don’t get the chance to gain these skills until it’s time to attend college. West Albany High School, however, provides students with the opportunity to develop these skills through its Health Occupations class.
During the first semester, students in Health Occupations learn basic healthcare procedures and earn various certifications, including BLS, CPR, and OSHA-10. While in class, students also work to complete the 12-hour onboarding training, bloodborne pathogens training, and workplace safety training.
On Feb. 18, at the start of the second semester, Health Occupations students attended an orientation at the hospital, which made them eligible to shadow healthcare workers beginning March 4. Students have the opportunity to rank the specialties they are interested in, making rounds at the Albany General Hospital as well as dental offices, chiropractic offices, veterinary offices, optometry offices, and physical therapy offices.
“They give me general setup tasks that I can do […], and with patient permission, I took someone’s blood pressure, which was pretty exciting,” senior Madison Marteeny said.
“The Health Occupations program is like a gateway for us into the medical field, and it seems like there’s always a shortage of healthcare workers,” Marteeny said. A longstanding issue in the United States is the shortage of healthcare workers, and COVID-19 has exacerbated the shortage.
Health Occupations students have the opportunity to explore various specialties to discover their areas of interest, which can benefit them financially in the future. “I know I want to be a physician’s assistant, but I don’t know what I’d want to specialize in, so this is a great way for me to just sample a lot of different specialties without having to go to college and spend a lot of money,” Marteeny said.
During days students are in the classroom instead of making rounds at various offices registered nurses and a nurse practitioners have come and talked with the students about their profession as well as having been on many field trips consisting of The Museum of Mental Health in Salem, Cadaver Lab at Western Oregon University, and Albany Fire Department.
“There are so many jobs where you can help people, but healthcare specifically, it feels more direct because you’re dealing with their lives. Not many jobs can do that,” Marteeny said.