Students Explore Health Care Careers

Oklahoma City – Thanks to a commitment by Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Lawton, and Duncan Regional Hospital, this fall students at Duncan Middle School and Lawton’s MacArthur Middle School students will begin exploring health care careers during an innovative program called HealthExploreTM. The program combines one hour of fun, interactive science education with one hour of health care career exploration.

With demonstrations and hands-on activities, the program is designed to excite students about science and health care by immersing them in fast-paced, hands-on learning, giving them a competitive edge before going into high school. Students will explore topics, such as DNA, how our bones and organs work, the importance of being tobacco free, having good nutrition and more. During each hands-on session, students will also meet different health care professionals, who will share with students what they do, where they work and the equipment they use.

“HealthExploreTM is a high-energy learning experience for students and we are delighted that both Duncan Middle School and MacArthur Middle School have taken the initiative to provide these educational experiences to their students in partnership with the local hospitals,” said Sheryl McLain, MS, executive director of Oklahoma Health Care Workforce Center.

To help cover HealthExploreTM program costs, each school is sponsored by an organization to provide students with the opportunity to participate for free or at a discounted rate. For Duncan Middle School, the Duncan Regional Hospital Health Foundation has covered tuition costs student costs through grants received from Sanford Health System, Cotton Electric Charitable Foundation Inc. and Duncan Public Schools Foundation. For MacArthur Middle School in Lawton, Comanche County Memorial Hospital has covered the majority of the program’s costs and donated scrub tops for the students to wear as they participate in activities.

Coordinating the HealthExploreTM program between the middle schools and hospitals are Cindy Parks, enrichment teacher of Duncan Middle School, Cyndi Crook,director of DRH Health Foundation, Jennifer Powell, student coordinator of Comanche County Memorial Hospital and Katy Jackson-Seeley, eighth-grade counselor and activities director of MacArthur Middle School.

HealthExploreTM operates through a partnership between the Oklahoma Health Care Workforce Center and Mad Science of Central Oklahoma. For more information about HealthExploreTM, visit www.ohcwc.com or call (405) 319-8690.

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Mad Science is the world’s leading fun science provider that sparks the imagination of children everywhere with exciting, live, interactive activities that will instill a clear understanding of what science really is about and how it affects the world around us.

The Oklahoma Health Care Workforce Center is a private non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating Oklahoma’s health care worker shortages. The Center focuses on increasing the level of awareness among young people of the many opportunities available in a health career. The OHCWC was created through legislation (SB 1394) in 2006 and is privately incorporated. It operates as a public/private partnership.