Approximately 80 Miami students will begin the school year preparing for careers in healthcare through a new Career Dual Enrollment Medical Assisting Lab.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the lab, which is located at South Miami Senior High School and is being offered in partnership with South Dade Technical College.
The program will allow students to receive hands-on medical training, earn industry certification and potentially enter the workforce as medical assistants after graduating from high school.
“We are so proud that we were able to bring South Dade Technical College’s industry knowledge and expertise to South Miami Senior High School’s Career Dual Enrollment Medical Assisting Program,” said René Mantilla, assistant superintendent of Postsecondary Career and Technical Education.
“This partnership will give these students the skills and opportunities to become certified and to work in healthcare, an industry not only in demand but critical to our community.”
Beginning in ninth grade, participating students will take specialized medical assisting courses each semester through their senior year.
The curriculum includes clinical procedures, administrative healthcare functions, medical assisting practices and training with modern medical equipment.
A student practices taking a patient’s blood pressure in South Miami Senior High School’s new Career Dual Enrollment Medical Assisting Lab. Participants will receive hands-on training in vital signs, blood draws, EKGs and other clinical procedures. (Photo via South Miami Senior High School)
Students will practice taking patients’ vital signs, drawing blood, performing electrocardiograms, administering injections and medications, and assisting physicians with advanced medical procedures.
“Last year, we did not have this wonderful lab,” said Griselle Torres, a South Dade Technical College medical assisting instructor with 30 years of industry experience. “Now students can perform hands-on medical assisting procedures like suture removal, burn care, wound care and vital signs. They can put into practice what they have been studying.”
The program previously relied heavily on classroom instruction and theory.
“What we did before was mostly theory,” said incoming 10th-grader Enzo Ramirez. “But now we’re going to draw blood, use a stethoscope and take blood pressure. This is learning by doing instead of theory.”
At the end of the school year, students will be eligible to take a state examination to earn their medical assisting certificate. Those who pass will be qualified to seek employment as medical assistants.
South Miami Senior High Principal Herbert Penton said the partnership creates a new pathway into an in-demand industry.
“This program will provide them with real-world experiences, access to an in-demand industry and career certifications that prepare our students for the workforce while still in high school,” Penton said.