Mid-Central Regional Center Offers Health Career Pipeline Program

Michigan AHEC's Mid-Central Regional Center and two second year Central Michigan University College of Medicine Students, Jeff Cooper and Katherine Roach, are offering the Health Career Pipeline Program for the second year. The Health Careers Pipeline Program for Area High School Students has a group of 17 students selected from three area high schools Mount Pleasant High School, Sacred Heart Academy and Montabella Junior/Senior High School in Montcalm County.

For nine weeks, the students each partnered with a CMU health professions undergrad will learn about wellness and gain insight into a variety of health professions. Sessions will include cardiac health, exercise physiology, all health profession careers, nutrition, local community resources and the importance of health care to rural communities; all using the tools and technology available in the state-of-the-art Central Michigan University College of Medicine Building.

The pipeline takes inspiration from similar programs at Michigan State University and Emory University. Seed funding came from the Mid Central Area Health Education Center, which includes as one of its main pillars the mission to identify health pipeline programs for middle and high school students.

High school students had to apply for the program and were selected with input from science teachers and counselors. One of the high school students wrote on their application that, "Having access to a mentor, exposure to knowledgeable guest speakers, experiencing clinical situation simulations, as well as taking up-close tours of the campus, labs and facilities are amazing opportunities for a high school student to experience."

The Mid-Central AHEC plans to continue this program in partnership with the second year students from the College of Medicine at CMU. We are looking at expanding this program to other counties within the 19 counties that the Mid Central AHEC serves. The students that participate in this 9 week Health Career Pipeline Program will learn a lot about themselves and what types of careers they could pursue in the health professions field. Overall, school administrators, parents and students are very impressed with the level of education that their students receive from this program.