The Alignment Collaborative for Education partnering with Northern Kane County Region 110 and Elgin Community College offered paid internship programs in healthcare to 31 students interested in an array of medical professions. Hosting organizations included Advocate Sherman Hospital, Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Diamond Physical Therapy, Ortho Illinois, and VNA Healthcare.
Terry Stroh, EFE director for Region 110, describes the summer internship program “as career builders for students with experiences designed based on the future workforce development needs for the region with healthcare jobs expected to have significant growth and advancement opportunities for the next decade. Todd Stirn, serving as the workforce development specialist for Region 110 adds “By participating in this internship, students not only gained valuable insights into the medical field, but they also developed a broad set of skills that are beneficial across multiple career paths in the medical field”.
The partnership with Advocate Sherman began with the pilot of the pharmacy technician program in Summer 2023 providing internship opportunities to ten students. For this summer, Advocate Sherman and Advocate Good Shepherd hospitals offered 15 opportunities for internships as pharmacy technicians while including the license preparation training provided by TalentFirst. Nancy Coleman, Alignment’s executive director, recognizes this robust partnership: “We are most thankful to Advocate Sherman and Advocate Good Shepherd hospitals for opening career doors for these students while still in high school. As a result of programs like the pharmacy technician internship, students can go to work in community pharmacies at age 16 expedited by this internship preparation.”
While the pharmacy technician internship is perfect for those who would like to go into the medical professions in career fields that require knowledge of pharmaceuticals, there are still some students who are unsure of their healthcare concentration. For ten students interested in exploring the healthcare profession, the medical rotation internship program seemed a perfect fit. The interns spent time in ten different areas of Advocate Sherman Hospital helping them to better define their career interests.
Both Diamond Physical Therapy and Ortho Illinois have new internship programs for Summer 2024 supporting the growing interest of students in pursuing the career field of physical therapy assistant offered by Elgin Community College or pursuing their education further to receive the Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Amy Skrabacz, a student from South Elgin High School, describes the internship at Diamond Physical Therapy as the opportunity to get a hands-on feel for the physical therapy profession. “I have taken away what the physical therapy atmosphere looks like in an outpatient setting.”
VNA Healthcare has also joined the partnership with a pilot rotational program in July offering additional opportunities at its clinic in Elgin. On her first day, student intern Gurlin Kaur from Streamwood High School, described her patient experience highlighting the introduction to the patient on-boarding process, the need for a comprehensive patient medical history, and supporting patient vitals to adequately provide the quality care that patients need.
Sheree Speakman, executive director of TalentFirst, commended “The private and public partnership between the schools, Northern Kane County Region 110, the local healthcare providers, and Alignment to provide programs like a 40 + 20 model that effectively provides the students a hands-on exploration of the profession while still in high school leading toward more informed decisions as they select their postsecondary field of study”.
Alignment and Northern Kane County Region 110 greatly appreciate the investment made by Advocate Sherman, Advocate Good Shepherd, Diamond Physical Therapy, Ortho Illinois, and VNA Healthcare for providing these students their next opportunity as future healthcare professionals.
Article by Imaan Azeem, Alignment Collaborative for Education Intern
Elgin High School
ACE is a member of the Alignment USA communities of collaboration and collective impact.
