Bartlett Regional | House Calls | Spring 2020

we grow our own workforce, right here in our hometown,” says Carin Smolin, the Career and Technical Education Coordinator for the Juneau School District. “We do not have formal data or information on how many students go on to further health sciences training and postsecondary education,” says Carin. “But we are aware of many students who value these courses and experiences and return to our community as postsecondary graduates employed by local health care organizations like Bartlett.” Current students can earn dual high school science credit and university credit toward health sciences degree programs through the University of Alaska Southeast. Instructor Henry Hopkins says about half the students in the semester-long job-shadowing elective choose to earn dual credit. Shared experiences During class time back at Juneau- Douglas High School, Portia and her fellow students share their experiences. Kayla Kohlhase spent time in the “super sterile” pharmacy department. Before entering, she had to scrub up to her elbows, put on gloves, have the gloves sprayed with alcohol and don a lab coat. “They took us into the sterile room and they showed us how to make IV bags and prepare the chemotherapy medicines,” she recalls, wide-eyed. Students Linnea Lentfer and Katie McKenna witnessed a birth. “You could just feel the intensity and the urgency,” they recall. “I think just the collaboration in the room between the nurses and the doctor and the patient was really cool,” says Katie. “It was so supportive and, even in a clinical environment, it was really about the human experience, and seeing that was fascinating and intriguing for me.” Katie also spent an hour with a pediatrician. “Rainforest Pediatrics was my favorite. I like little kids, so it was nice to see them.” She witnessed a four-day checkup for a newborn baby. She is interested in family medicine and delivering babies. Linnea was able to connect some of her high school education with a job-shadow in the lab, where clinical scientists drew her blood and then quizzed her on “antibodies versus B antigens and all this stuff,” she says. “It was fun for me to try and remember what I’ve learned in my biology classes and then apply it into this real-life situation and find out my blood type.” She also spent time shadowing a nurse at Wild Flower Court, the assisted living facility adjacent to the hospital. “A lot of her job is watching how Current students can earn dual high school science credit and university credit toward health sciences degree programs through the University of Alaska Southeast. Classroom photo (from left), row 1: Leah Davenport, Jemma Ruiz; row 2: Linnea Lentfer, Katie McKenna; row 3: Portia Carney, Kayla Kohlhase, Sosan Monsef; row 4: Taylor Clayton, Tara Moreno-Goodwin; row 5: Karly Phillips, Rebecca Diamond —Continued on page 8 www.bartletthospital.org 7