Centegra Health System

Centegra Health System Mentoring Healthcare Professionals

Mentoring Future Healthcare Professionals

A cohort of high school seniors in Huntley is getting an intensive job shadowing experience through a program modeled after medical school residency programs. Up to 30 students participate in the Youth Residency Program as part of Huntley High School’s Medical Academy.

These future healthcare professionals spend at least 2.5 hours per week learning from the insights of mentors throughout Centegra Health System.

At Centegra Hospital-Huntley and other health system facilities, students have witnessed childbirth and watched as medical teams performed life-saving trauma care. They’ve used microscopes to examine the pathology of tumors and observed the ways physicians and nurses care for inpatients.

The students spend time with hospitalists and have access to clinical departments including:

  • Emergency department;
  • Pharmacy;
  • Laboratory;
  • Family Birth Center;
  • Cardiac catheterization laboratory; and
  • Discharge planning.

“It’s our hope these students continue their education and return to serve their families, friends and community,” said Bernadette Szczepanski, Centegra Health System senior vice president of human resources. “We will keep in touch with the students and hope they will become Centegra Associates in the future.”

Since the program began, other local school districts have approached Centegra Health System about similar models within their own schools.