| Students at Baltimore schools get a taste of a | | | | health careers. The other incentive for MedStar is |
| health career | | | | the potential new stream of employees that the |
| A new initiative at Baltimore schools provides yet | | | | program will open up. It's no secret that MedStar |
| another glimpse into the possibilities that a public | | | | is facing a worrying shortage of skilled manpower. |
| school system can throw up for its students, if it | | | | Doctors and nurses as well as those who don't |
| only makes the effort. Baltimore schools have | | | | require much more than a high school education |
| tied up with MedStar the Columbia based health | | | | are in demand, and for MedStar this program |
| care system, to offer students an opportunity to | | | | allows Baltimore schools students to test the |
| intern at health facilities. The exposure, it is | | | | waters, before plunging into a health career, |
| believed will help students who have already | | | | preferably at MedStar's own facilities. |
| considered a move into a health career as part of | | | | There is every indication that MedStar is looking |
| their future, to make a firm decision. Those who | | | | at the Rx for Success program as a long term |
| might have been curious about what a medical | | | | one. Under the memorandum, the program will be |
| job involves will now have an opportunity to see | | | | funded for years, but the success of the |
| first hand the joys and satisfaction of such a job, | | | | program will probably lead to its permanency. The |
| as well as its myriad challenges. | | | | program offer students reading materials and |
| This new school to work program at Baltimore | | | | learning facilities besides helping Baltimore schools |
| School is called Rx for Success, and it is already | | | | participating in the program to create large make |
| giving students a foretaste of what working in a | | | | shift "hospitals" in the basement complete with a |
| medical job could be like. The program offers | | | | version of a pediatric care room and an intensive |
| students at Baltimore schools a chance to have | | | | care unit for students to practice in. |
| summer internships at one of its seven hospitals. | | | | From all feedback to date, the program has been |
| Students can also opt for internships at other | | | | a grand success. Baltimore schools students are |
| health care centers operated by MedStar including | | | | enthused about what they are learning, and the |
| home nursing services and surgical centers. | | | | value it can bring to others. The on site training |
| Businesses Look to Baltimore Schools for Future | | | | offered to the students plus the rich experience |
| Employees | | | | of working closely with physicians and other heath |
| For MedStar, the program's main benefit is that it | | | | professionals, who they otherwise wouldn't have |
| gives them an opportunity to offer Baltimore | | | | got the chance to know on a personal level has |
| schools students, especially the lower income | | | | helped many students at Baltimore schools make |
| ones, a chance to get a foothold in satisfying | | | | up their minds about a medical career. |