Carlinville Area Hospital

Developing Future Healthcare Professionals

To inspire and cultivate the next generation of healthcare professionals, Carlinville Area Hospital in 2015 launched “High School to Healthcare” (HS2HC), a complimentary class for local high school students interested in pursuing careers in healthcare.

Hospital professionals across the hospital volunteer their time to teach interactive classes in their specialty over the eight-week course, which are in the evenings to accommodate busy high school students. Hospital departments represented are:

• Family medicine;
• Nursing;
• Laboratory science;
• Respiratory therapy;
• Pharmacy;
• Radiology;
• Physical and occupational therapy; and
• Behavioral health.

Held at the hospital, HS2HC classes bring to life the experiences of various healthcare professionals by exploring a case study of a medical situation and injured or ill patient. Each week a different professional field is highlighted so students can learn how that particular profession helps the patient from the initial accident, injury or disease through rehabilitation and recovery.

HS2HC offers hands-on learning, introduces students to medical equipment, and discusses education requirements, career options within each field and expected career growth. So far, about 45 students from four local high schools have participated. Several of the students plan to pursue higher education in healthcare or have already done so.