KALISPELL - More than 160 students from high schools in and around Flathead County attended 'Hyped on Healthcare’ Monday at Logan Health in Kalispell.
The event teaches students interested in health topics about the many different career paths in the healthcare industry.
This was the first high school education day back at the hospital since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What a great time to spark their interest in healthcare, right when they’re getting ready to make the biggest decision of their life,” said Logan Health Chief Nursing Officer April McGauley.
Healthcare workers from a multitude of fields joined high school students at Logan Health to answer questions and showcase different career paths.
“After I heard we were going to get to see the A.L.E.R.T. helicopter I really loved the idea of that, but also seeing the bio-med station is pretty cool to see how all that tech works and how easy it is to function and fix,” said Flathead High School student Jaden Williams.
Williams wants to work in physical therapy after graduation, he jumped at the chance to talk to healthcare professionals about their careers.
“It’s been a love ever since I hit high school, I’ve really loved sports all my life and to be able to help people who are trying to recover from injuries from those sports, I would just love to do that,” added Williams.
Students bounced around to different stations learning about radiology, trauma, robotic surgery and more.
“This is called the Da Vinci Robot Platform and it allows you to operate in really narrow and tight spaces in the body,” said Urologist Vassilis Siomos.
Siomos showed students the importance of robotic surgery, and the tools they use to operate.
“And a lot of the students have seen laparoscopic surgery, or they’ve had a family member have robotic surgery, so they asked some really good questions, and they were able to see the technology that we use,” added Siomos.
Stillwater Christian School student Belle Schwartz was excited to learn about different jobs in healthcare as she contemplates a future career.
“So, this was just really cool to see all the different varieties and people that actually do the jobs and just talk to them about it,” added Schwartz.
McGauley said hands-on learning can help push forward the next generation of healthcare workers.
“Near and dear to my heart, I started in high school as a certified nursing assistant and so that’s what sparked my career, so I think it’s important, and they need to know the significance of what decision they make next as a high schooler,” said McGauley.
