Orthopedic and Sports Institute.com - Area high school students get inside look at Health Care Careers Through Medical Mentoring Program

For more information contact:
Courtney Vosters
Medical Mentoring Coordinator
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920.277.1722

For Immediate Release

AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GET INSIDE LOOK AT HEALTH CARE
CAREERS THROUGH MEDICAL MENTORING PROGRAM

- 92 teens paired with professionals this summer -

Medical Mentoring students tour OSI's Surgery Center with Heather Lindberg, Surgery Center tech.

Appleton, Wis., (May 05, 2009) – This summer, 92 area high school students--including 1 from Oshkosh, 1 from Little Chute, 1 from Waupaca, 4 from Ripon, and 5 from Berlin--will be treated to real-world experience through Medical Mentoring, a hands-on program created in 2006 by the Orthopedic & Sports Institute in partnership with Appleton East High School.

Up from 13 students in its first year and 43 in its second, the 2009 Medical Mentoring program offers a select group of high school juniors and seniors the rare opportunity to spend three half-days with their mentors--12 focused hours with a health care professional whose practice matches each student’s area of interest. Watching clinician-patient interactions and observing surgeries firsthand gives program participants a real-world glimpse of their futures.

Participating high schools include Appleton East, North, and West; Kimberly, Xavier and Fox Valley Lutheran; Ripon, Berlin, Valley Christian in Oshkosh, and UW-Fox Valley TriO Educational Talent Search Program.

Medical Mentoring brings together students from nine area high schools with medical professionals from the Orthopedic & Sports Institute, Appleton Area School District, Appleton Cardiology Associates, Advanced Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, The Neuroscience Group of Northeast Wisconsin, Osteopathic Medicine & Physical Therapy Group, Primary Care Associates of Appleton, Morton Pharmacy, William Baye, DDS; NeuroSpine Center of Wisconsin, Pinnacle Cataract & Laser Institute, to offer area teens real-world experience in a health care setting.

“Medical Mentoring offers high school students hands-on experience and creates excitement about the health care field they’re most interested in,” said Dr. David Eggert, Orthopedic & Sports Institute surgeon and 2006 founder of the Institute’s Medical Mentoring program. “The growth of this program is incredibly exciting!”

Dr. David Eggert, orthopedic surgeon and founder of OSI's Medical Mentoring program, talks with his daughter Liz (Appleton East senior) and Medical Mentoring coordinator Courtney Vosters (left) during the program's kick-off event Thursday evening, May 7.

Courtney Vosters, RN, BSN, and OSI’s Medical Mentoring Coordinator finds it “ . . . rewarding to see young adults using Medical Mentoring as an opportunity to see, early on, what a career in health care would look like and feel like.”

Students applying for Medical Mentoring positions must have successfully completed their school’s prerequisites (typically, Health Occupations or Advanced Chemistry and Biology). As part of the application process, students are required to write an essay, provide references, and interview with school faculty, who then select the top candidates for the program. After being accepted into the program, students complete training in blood-borne pathogens and confidentiality issues.

Medical Mentoring professions include physician, nurse practitioner, registered nurse, physical therapist, medical assistant, radiologic technologist, surgical technologist, pediatric specialist, dentist, and pharmacist. Students have an opportunity to shadow professionals in Orthopedic and Sports Medicine, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Family Practice, Pediatrics, Dentistry, Ophthalmology, and Pharmacy.

Session 1 kick-off meetings for Medical Mentoring students from Xavier, Fox Valley Lutheran, Kimberly, Ripon and TRIO are slated for Thursday, May 7 (6:00 and 7:15 p.m.). Session 2 kick-off meetings for students from all three Appleton high schools and Berlin will be held on Thursday, May 14 (6:00 and 7:15 p.m.).

The Orthopedic & Sports Institute features an outpatient surgery center, orthopedic surgeons, an imaging center, a pain-management physician, a podiatrist, an anesthesiologist, an orthotist, and physical therapists. Sports injuries are also treated here.

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Orthopedic & Sports Institute • 2105 E. Enterprise Avenue • Appleton, WI • www.osifv.com

Press Releases

News Flash

AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GET INSIDE LOOK AT HEALTH CARE
CAREERS THROUGH MEDICAL MENTORING PROGRAM

Press Releases

News Flash

AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GET INSIDE LOOK AT HEALTH CARE CAREERS THROUGH MEDICAL MENTORING PROGRAM

AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GET INSIDE LOOK AT HEALTH CARE
CAREERS THROUGH MEDICAL MENTORING PROGRAM