Photo By Marcelo Calero | Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) welcomed 37 teens ages 14-17 as the first...... read more read more
Subscribe
A group of high school students are inaugurating Naval Medical Center San Diego’s first Summer VolunTEEN program.
During the six week program, teens are providing traditional volunteer support to the hospital and attending demonstrations and presentations at NMCSD and its surrounding clinics.
The chance to volunteer at a medical treatment facility was the perfect opportunity for Gianna Bove, who heard of the program from her mother and was instantly attracted to the prospect of spending time with medical health care professionals.
“I want to go into the medical field and this opportunity is going to allow me to gain wisdom from professionals in the Navy who can give advice regarding what I should do with my future and how I should move forward in my education going into the medical field,” said Bove.
However, before any interaction with patients or staff, the teens have to go through an orientation and training sessions.
“In preparation for their time in the program, teens were provided training and presentations from multiple program experts from NMCSD, including Patient Relations, Infection Control, Patient Safety, Occupational Safety, HIPAA/Privacy and others, and were introduced to program and team leaders,” said Mr. Jeff Apana, NMCSD chief experience officer and VolunTEEN program lead coordinator.
NMCSD’s commitment to introducing a diverse group of teenage students to careers in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), including professions in healthcare, is the main driving force for having implemented the Summer VolunTEEN program.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, what many hospitals discovered is that the contributions of teens went a long way to alleviate some of the burden on an already taxed medical staff. For these medical facilities, every little support made a disproportionate difference for their staff.
Throughout their stay, the teens will also benefit from meeting other teens with similar interests and form new friendships, helping them broaden their life experiences to enable them grow personally and educationally.
“This is a great opportunity for teens and staff, and we look forward to providing a meaningful and educational experience for our teens this summer,” said Apana.
NMCSD's mission is to prepare service members to deploy in support of operational forces, deliver high quality healthcare services and shape the future of military medicine through education, training and research. NMCSD employs more than 6,000 active duty military personnel, civilians and contractors in Southern California to provide patients with world-class care anytime, anywhere.
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.17.2022 13:25 |
| Story ID: | 427431 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 146 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, VoluTEEN program inaugurated at NMCSD, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
