Students at JayHigh School are getting a jump start into a potential career in the health care industry through the school’s HealthScienceAcademy. JayHigh School is only one of two schools in the county, the other being GulfBreezeHigh School’s Academy for Health and Medical Professions, to offer such curriculum which offers industry certification. For JayHigh School’s HealthScienceAcademy, students can become a Certified Medical Administrative Assistant through the Allied Health Assisting curriculum.
“It gives us all an opportunity to see how the medical field will be in the future and it can also help us determine our field of study,” said JHS Senior Launa Burkhead.
Through community partnerships with the JayHospital and the JayMedicalCenter, students are allowed to work with their peers already certified in the health care industry and learn how the system operates. JayHospital permits students to concentrate on such areas as lab work, registration and cardiopulmonary techniques. At JayMedicalCenter, students obtain experience in administrative duties including scheduling, receiving payments and maintaining medical records among other job functions.
“This gives them an idea of how each of those departments work together and provide total patient care,” said Nina Hendricks, who supervises the program on the school’s behalf. “JayHospital and Jay Medical have been tremendous community partners and provide many hours of supervisory and mentor support for our students. The opportunities our students have to see a health system in action, interact with healthcare providers and patients, and perform non-invasive skills is something adults could have only hoped to have had the chance to do when we were in school.”
Classmate Liza Eddings agreed adding the opportunity allows students to narrow down which field the student wants to pursue following high school graduation.
“The experience in going from department to department, you figure out what you like and what you don’t like,” Eddings said.
This year, the JHS academy has eight senior female students, all of which are leaning towards different career fields from oncology nursing to adolescent psychiatry. All of the students have been accepted into their college of choice and are awaiting to take their CMAA certification exam in April.
Hendricks said her students know what they want to do once they enter the workforce.
“Academy students know what they want to do once they graduate, so the learning curve is drastically lowered and they have a confidence that is exciting to see evolve” she said. “My students are ready to enter the workforce and contribute to the community the day they leave JayHigh School, and that is an awesome educational outcome.”
Debra Hayes, nursing director for JayMedicalCenter, said the medical center hired two students from the academy. Hayes is an adamant supporter of the program.
“It has been wonderful. I really feel like this is such a good program,” she said. “It’s a great learning experience for them.”
In addition to learning inside or outside the classroom, the students are busy traveling in order to participate in conferences, some of which allow them to put their knowledge to the test on a state and national level.
“Each year it costs approximately $15,000 to operate academy events,” Hendricks said in a memo. “About a third of the necessary funding comes from county and federal sources and the rest is raised by the academy and HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) members.”
With fundraising product sales, the academy also organizes two other fundraising events including the ‘Hot Stuff Chili and Soup Cook-Off’ happening on February 6 and the ‘How Sweet It Is’ dessert tasting adult night out event April 23. Both events start at 6 p.m. at the Jay United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. Ticket prices vary for each event and items donated by Jay area businesses will be up for auction.
Those interested in learning more about the academy or are interested in supporting either one of the events are encouraged to contact Hendricks at hendricksn@santarosa.k12.fl.us for more information.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: JHS Health Science Academy gives students jump start into health care profession