Medical Careers Exposure Program

The Medical Careers Exposure Program is a key element of how we further our mission of combatting pervasive health care disparities that impact our underserved communities on the South and West Side of Chicago. This program consists of six sessions:

• Session 1: Emergency Preparedness Workshop. High school students and staff are trained to recognize and respond to strokes, cardiac arrest, and penetrating wounds (gun shots, stab wounds, and accidents). 
• Session 2: TRAP Violence Workshop. High school students learn the structural causes of violence and evidence-based approaches to managing conflict.
• Session 3: Medical Careers Panel. High school students have the opportunity to hear from doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, paramedics, and radiology techs
• Session 4: Field Trip to the University of Chicago Simulation Center. High school students learn about medical didactics, simulations, ultrasound, suturing, and robotics. 
• Session 5: Field Trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. High school students go on a customized scavenger hunt through the museum to meet curriculum goals.
• Session 6: Field Trip to Malcolm X College Department of Health Sciences. Here, high school students learn about dual enrollment opportunities in nursing, EMT, and x-ray tech that they can complete while in high school.

We have conducted this program in public school and private schools. For Chicago schools that are affiliated with a Career and Technical Education (CTE) or “vocational education” program called Allied Health, our Medical Careers Exposure Program dovetails perfectly with Allied Health; we are often brought in to conduct our programming with the cohort of students that are enrolled in Allied Health classes. To date, we have run this program at Julian High School, South Shore International College Prep, Englewood STEM High School, and Crane Medical Preparatory High School. We also conduct the Medical Careers Exposure Program at schools that are not affiliated with Allied Health, such as Johnson College Prep, Kenwood Academy High School, and Muhammad University of Islam  High School.

Typically, we conduct our programming at each school with three classes--one each for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The curriculum is customized to be developmentally appropriate for each age group, with an ice breaker, learning objectives, and accountability contracts. We may include a longitudinal project that students work on throughout the course of the six sessions. Our curriculum is informed by cutting-edge educational techniques. Each session for each class typically lasts for one hour to 90 minutes; with anywhere from 25 to 40 students per class. We work with each school to design and customize the program to meet the school’s needs.