Med Center Health welcomes more than 30 teen ambassadors for the summer

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Teenagers across the region are preparing for their future by getting an idea of ​​different medical careers they might want to pursue.

Each summer, Med Center Health welcomes students to become teen ambassadors at the hospital so they can gain valuable experience that will expose them to careers in the healthcare profession.

More than 30 high school students are volunteering on the Med Center Health Bowling Green campus this summer to get a feel for different departments and ghost healthcare professionals.

Med Center Health Foundation Executive Director Amy Hardin says, “Every day when you walk through the doors of Med Center Health, it takes up to 80 different people who allowed you into a medical center. clean facilities to come into, a clean, sanitized room, that's been transferred from the last patient, from nurses to surgical techs, and we just want to expose future healthcare leaders to all of these opportunities.

Fifty students applied, but only 33 were accepted into the program, two of whom completed the program last summer, becoming program assistants this year.

Hannah Claire Cassady, Teen Ambassador Program Assistant, says, “In just one year, it has really opened my eyes to healthcare in general and everything that is out there. »

Students are divided into groups and rotate through different departments each day to learn what it takes to run a healthcare facility.

Cassady adds, “All the friendships I've made along the way, the opportunity to collaborate with so many wonderful healthcare professionals and learn so much about what it takes to be a successful healthcare professional. health and take care of the people who need our help as best as possible. .”

This program helps students become familiar with the medical center's wide range of jobs and also helps them decide what they will study in the future.

Hardin says, “The nurses, the staff, the unit clerks, the doctors, they all see that these students are hungry to learn, that they want to be here and that they are very engaged. So we love getting wonderful feedback from departments because it shows again that we chose the right students to be here.

The Med Center Health Bowling Green campus launched the Teen Ambassador program in 2022 and hopes to expand the program to other Med Center Health locations in the future.

The students became teen ambassadors last week and will continue their work until mid-July, when they will receive a certificate of program completion and a letter listing all volunteer hours completed.