MT. KISCO – Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH), part of Northwell Health, held its 5th annual Medical Career Expo on Saturday, November 4th with more than 160 junior high, high school and college students attending – a new record for the event. The hands-on career development day highlighted a wide range of healthcare jobs in at least 13 different disciplines, from robotic surgery to administration and from nursing to food service.
Organized by the hospital’s community health department and staffed by approximately 40 hospital employees, the expo provided students with in-depth descriptions on potential healthcare jobs, their responsibilities and answers to their questions. Depending on the specialty each booth offered students the ability to try hands-on training, be it the Mako® robotic-arm for orthopedics, the blood pressure cuff at the nursing booth, or the highly popular da Vinci® surgical system for an intro to robotic surgery. The hospital’s President’s Junior Leadership Council (PJLC), a youth leadership program that helps promote community health and wellness, also participated by leading their fellow students through the exhibits as a peer-to-peer leadership opportunity.
Besides physician and nursing careers, there were booths showcasing a variety of professions that are critical to running a hospital, including operations management, engineering, food and nutrition and even pet therapy.
“The Medical Career Expo is all about creating a pipeline for young students to go into healthcare,” said Amy Rosenfeld, senior program manager of student experiences and school-based partnerships at NWH. “Our hope is to spark students’ passions and help fill the healthcare shortages expected in the future. Since we started hosting this event in 2018, many students have followed a career path into medicine and are now employed here at the hospital.”
The U.S. is experiencing a healthcare shortage, which is expected to worsen over the next decade. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the country will face a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034, including 48,000 primary care physicians.
“I came to this year’s event because I am interested in medicine, but I am not sure exactly which career path to take,” said Cara Drapala, a junior at Fox Lane High School in Bedford and a member of PJLC. “To learn about all the different types of medical careers was helpful. I tried the da Vinci® robot, which was cool.”
To learn more about Northern Westchester Hospital’s Student Experience programs, please visit http://www.nwhconnect.org/NWHstudentexperiences.
About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 21 hospitals, about 900 outpatient facilities and more than 12,000 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 85,000 employees – 18,900 nurses and 4,900 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We’re training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow them at @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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