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Back row: Paul Lorenz, Hospital Administrator; Kathy Long, County Supervisor; Jim Garfield, Board Member; Bill Bartels, President of the Board; Bea Frias, Board Member, Director of Nursing SP Hospital; Elissa Rico, Intern; Mary Deines, Executive Director, Secretary/Treasurer. Front Row: Brianne McGrath, Board Member; Jennifer Heighton, Board Member; Ashley Morino, Intern; Gloria Camarillo, Vice President; Yanelle Diaz, Intern; Gislia Negrete, Intern; Jasper Aguayo, Intern. (Photo by Debbie Johnson) |
New Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation program offers teens hospital internships
June 27, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Giving teenagers the opportunity experience all the opportunities of health care is the new program crafted by the Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation, named in honor of a noted physician/hospital administrator.
The Doctor Sam Edwards Summer Health Internship Program (SHIP) will allow five high school students, 16- to 18-year-olds, the chance to not only explore medical field career options but also to earn some pocket money - $8.50 an hour funded by Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation - during the five-week internship.
Selected for the inaugural program are Jasper Aguayo, 17, Gislia Negrete, 16, and Elissa Rico, 17, all incoming seniors at Santa Paula High School; Yanelle Diaz, 17, an incoming senior at Fillmore High School; and Ashley Morino, 18, a Fillmore High graduate who will attend CSU San Jose in the fall. Foundation President Bill Bartels said the program took about a year to design and will give students the chance to explore all aspects of the medical field.
The foundation serves Fillmore, Santa Paula and Piru. It partnered with the Ventura County Health Care Agency - which it works closely with on other programs - to offer the Summer Health Internship Program opportunity.
Working five days a week for eight hours, the interns will receive an $8.50 hourly stipend and, said Santa Paula Hospital Nurse Manager Bea Frias, RN, the program will “give the students an experience they never had before,” rotating between county hospitals and clinics.
Foundation Vice Chair Gloria Camarillo, also a medical professional, said she did not have the opportunity given to the interns for “not just theory or discussions, but hands-on” experience. Organizers have been developing it for a year to simulate hospital-hiring processes and provide training.
Rico said her internship is perhaps a natural offshoot of her participation in sports and interest in general in health and well being, while Aguayo said he is interested in becoming a physician. “I thought,” he noted, “what’s a better way to start?”
Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long agreed: “We look to grow our own” medical workforce to serve local areas. “We have the best residency program in the nation,” and Long thanked the foundation for stepping up to nurture youth interested in medical careers. “And,” she added, “if they do continue in the medical field they can come back to us!”
Frias noted all interns would go through the complete hiring process. Each student had to submit a résumé, transcript, letters of recommendation and a cover letter and pass muster with a three-person board interview to attain the internship.
The students will be paired with all types of medical workers, from physicians and therapists to nurses and support staff to administrators, “to really get an understanding of how they all connect together... and see how this healthcare system works as well as it does,” which includes communications.
Ventura County Health Care Agency Hospitals Director Paul Lorenz said the program itself reflects Santa Paula Hospital, as, “It’s all about community and continues to be all about community.”
Twenty-one students tried for the slots, and Foundation Board Director Brianne McGrath said, “We were very impressed” at the interest as well as by the students, whose internship will run from July 9 to August 24.
Also on hand to congratulate the students were Mary Deines, Foundation executive director and secretary/treasurer, and Board Directors Jim Garfield and Jennifer Heighton.
