In Roanoke, Virginia, Carilion Clinic is making strides to tackle the nationwide shortage of healthcare workers by introducing high school students to careers in the medical field. Students like Callie Newbill from North Side High School, who is inspired by her grandmother’s work as a nurse and hopes to become a pediatric nurse, are being exposed to the various roles within the healthcare industry. Jamriya Hale from Franklin County High School aspires to be a travel nurse or work in the trauma room because she enjoys helping people and giving them more days to live. Emma Ostrander, a senior at Cave Spring High School, dreams of becoming an EMT or working in a trauma center because she wants to be involved in hands-on lifesaving work.
Carilion Clinic’s Camp Carilion provides high school students from Southwest Virginia with practical experience in healthcare, teaching them skills like CPR and basic medical procedures. Karri Proctor, the Student Services Manager at Carilion Clinic, emphasizes the importance of exposing students to different roles within the healthcare field so they can find their path. The camp aims to address the critical shortage of healthcare workers that is projected to worsen in the coming years, with only 44% of the needed physicians expected to be available in nonmetro areas by 2036.
Proctor highlights the impact that healthcare workers have on saving lives and describes them as real-life superheroes. By providing these students with early exposure to healthcare careers, Carilion Clinic hopes to inspire the next generation of healthcare workers who will fill the growing need for medical professionals. As Proctor puts it, “We want these students to see that they can make a difference in their communities and become real-life superheroes.”
