Hansika Kundru (right), an Exeter High School student and current volunteer in the hospital’s Emergency Department, will intern in the NICU this year is speaking with hospital leadership.
As part of a larger effort to interest more young people in a health care career, Reading Hospital-Tower Health operates a successful High School Internship Program that indeed has spurred participants to stay with the industry.
This fall, 29 students from a dozen local school districts are working in various clinical and non-clinical disciplines, including nursing, cardiology, Children’s Health Center, emergency department, labor and delivery, oncology, Center for Public Health and the McGlinn Cancer Institute.
Of the 88 students who have completed the program, close to a third have remained engaged with Reading Hospital, participating in job shadowing, college internships and, for 12 participants, returning to the hospital for employment. All 30 of last year’s graduates are pursuing higher education and 97% are seeking careers in health care.
“We expose them to all the moving parts that make a health care system function,” said Desha Dickson, vice president of diversity, equity, inclusion and community wellness at Tower Health. “We value education and growth within our system and strive to share that knowledge with our community through the various programs and opportunities available with us.”
Interns also build their professional skills in areas such as financial literacy, resume writing and mock interviews and health care career roundtables.
The program is one of the hospital’s Pathways Programs, which offer opportunities to learn about health care careers through hands-on experience, job shadowing and volunteering.
The program is one of the innovative ways hospitals and health systems are developing tomorrow’s health care workforce. In Pennsylvania, many health care professionals are nearing retirement just as the need for health care is growing. Providing adequate access to quality care depends upon increasing the number of students pursuing careers in the field.