CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — A six-week program run by Lehigh Valley Health Network is showing high school students what it’s like to work in health care. The Health Care Futures Program gives Allentown High School students the opportunity to shadow different roles in a hospital setting and see what it’s like to work in multiple departments.
Jamalia Torres, 20, credits her grandmother in sparking her passion for health care. Torres’ grandmother has spent the last 40 years as a nurse in Puerto Rico.
“She has always been my inspiration. She worked in critical care units, emergency departments and she’s always influenced me to become a nurse,” Torres told 69 News.
While in high school, Torres got her first taste of the field when she completed Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Health Care Futures Program. For six weeks, she rotated through three departments in a hospital setting as she figured out a best fit.
“I went through three different roles, sterile processing, Unit 6B, and Unit 6K which is MedSurg. I ended up loving Unit 6B which is where I’m working now and I’ve been there about two years now. It was just an amazing experience,” Torres explained.
Heidy Pagan manages the Health Care Futures Program.
“We go to the schools, we meet with the students, introduce them to the hospital. We tell them it’s not just doctors or nurses. There are both clinical and non-clinical roles. We bring them into the hospital. We split the students into three rotations each. We get them dressed into scrubs, white tops, black bottoms and they’re with us for a period of six weeks and rotate in three departments of their choice,” Pagan stated.
Pagan said Torres was the program’s first graduate and was hired by LVHN as a full-time patient care partner.
“You’re welcoming the patient; you’re making sure that the patient has everything they need. You are that advocate between the patient and the nursing team,” Pagan said.
Right now, Torres is attending Lehigh Carbon Community College with plans to get her degree in nursing.
“My ultimate goal is to become a registered nurse, go into critical care unit for about 2-3 years and then after that I’d love to be an anesthesiologist nurse,” Torres explained. “Just dive in. Don’t be scared. If you know your passion, go for it.”