student spotlight

Exposure to Medicine

OhioHealth at PLSD prepares the next generation of medical experts

Offering real-world instruction to train for skilled jobs in the health care industry, the OhioHealth program at the Pickerington Local School District allows students to select from a range of medical careers as they continue exploring their fields of interest and college options.

The program, which first started in 2012 with 76 students, now has more than 400 students at the high school level.

Starting with grades seven and eight, it offers beginner medical detective classes to about 800 students each year. In high school, participating students take courses on subjects such as biomedical sciences and body systems. Seniors take a projectbased course at OhioHealth.

There are eight junior high and high school teachers who help teach the program.

“Health care is a growing industry and there is a lot of demand for people working in health care. Especially in central Ohio, there is a great labor market demand,” says Julie Novel, high school curriculum coordinator of the OhioHealth program at PLSD. “There’s now a huge variety of jobs available in health care. You have everything from therapeutic careers such as respiratory

therapy, diagnostic careers and even ra- health care field. That will be a tremen- “We haven’t seen this yet, but I think diologic technicians.” dous benefit to the community and for we’re going to start seeing it in the next five

Andy Harris, a teacher at the Ohio- the future of medical sciences at large. years or so where the baby boomer generaHealth center, says the main goal is to fill According to Novel, the baby boomer tion is going to create a lot of demand for the growing need for health care workers generation is large and will require many health care services and there’s going to be in the industry. Having a background in more services from health care providers a lot of stress on the system,” Novel says. exercise science and physiology, his job is in the near future, whether it is physical to oversee these students’ transition from rehabilitation for an injury or for general Sanaya Attari is an editorial assistant. high school to college and help them find advice on exercise, nutrition and dietary Feedback welcome at feedback@ jobs post-graduation. restrictions. cityscenemediagroup.com.

OhioHealth invested $2 million into the program, which provides staff hours for students as well as an average of more than 500 shadowing hours per year along with rotations between the pharmacy and the Support the Arts at Home! emergency room.

“We participate A portion of every subscription through March 1, 2021 goes to Shadowbox Live. in biomedical science competitions across the country. If any of our students place in the top 10 of the country, they are eligible to apply for scholarships when pursuing higher education,” Harris says. “We are also involved in the Global Summit, where students from all over the world work on global issues, so if we start working with these kids from different countries, they can all work together on some of these projects.”

Since health care providers are having a hard time hiring workers, the biggest benefit to the Pickerington community is high school students who can get ahead in becoming qualified medical practitioners. This year, the program has almost 80 high school seniors working at the hospital.

Novel says that most of these 80 students will go on to college and a large portion of them will end up working in the

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