Program offered to jump-start health career

Officials are looking for area high school students interested in pursuing a health related field.

Three area counties receive funding to help students through the Youth Health Service Corps ––  a volunteer program for high school students.

The program is new to the northwest Missouri area and funding has recently been awarded to establish YHSC in three area counties –– Nodaway, Worth and Gentry.
Jenny Giffin-Davey, recruit coordinator for the northwest Missouri district, said she hopes to recruit 25 high school students in the three-county area to be involved in the program.

"This is an exciting time for the Northwest Missouri AHEC," Giffin-Davey said. "Northwest Missouri AHEC is part of a national collaboration of AHEC's mobilizing diverse high schools students across the nation to provide much needed volunteer services while developing a national pipeline of future health care practitioners trained to serve our nation's most vulnerable."

Recruiting in the northwest Missouri area began at the end of September and Giffin-Davey said they are pushing hard to find students who want to be involved in the program.

"We would like to have our orientation by the end of October," she said. "We are hoping high school students who are interested in any type of health related field will apply for the program."

To enroll in the 08-09 program, students in the tri-county area may contact Giffin-Davey at (816) 271-7146 or email her at jenny.davey@heartland-health.com.

Students who enroll will perform 10-50 hours of volunteer service in health care agencies serving the under-served including community health centers, homeless shelters, long-term care facilities, physical therapy clinics and cancer centers.

Giffin-Davey said Northwest Medical Center in Albany has agreed to host the upcoming training events.

YHSC uses a nine-module curriculum to train students for the volunteer setting. Each module contains numerous hands-on activities designed to prepare students to interact with under-served populations in health care settings. Modules included in the curriculum are: vulnerable populations, ethical and legal issues, applied health service, cultural competency, health education and disease prevention, health and career exploration, observation and data collection, emergency preparedness, peer education and leadership, and CPR and AED certification.

A progressive award system encourages students to complete the program and to increase their number of community service hours. There are three tiers to the award system.

• Tier I : basic recognition –– completion training on basic health issues and at least 10 hours of community service.

• Tier II: special recognition –– completion of additional training and 25 hours of community service.

• Tier III: national recognition –– completion of all nine training modules and at least 50 hours of community service.

"I believe this program will be really good for the students who sign up," Giffin-Davey said. "It will give them the opportunity to help in their local communities. It is important for the students to learn the importance of volunteering at an early age and they will realize how the things they learn will hep them later in their career."
Giffin-Davey will be visiting the high schools in the three counties to give presentations about the AHSC program.

"The volunteer hours the students will be involved in will be after school hours,"  she said. "There is a possibility some teachers will allow the students to earn extra
credit for their volunteer hours. Some schools require community volunteer hours before graduation."

Giffin-Davey said she is excited about the opportunities for the students in the northwest Missouri area.

"This is a brand new program," she said. "The students who sign up will have the opportunity to help start it up in our area. They will kind of lead the way."

The YHSC operates in 14 states and has provided training for more than 1,000 high school students, who in turn performed more than 10,000 hours of volunteer service at health care agencies. Volunteer hours have been conducted at agencies such as community health centers, homeless shelters, migrant farm worker clinics and long term care facilities. To date, three YHSC students have been awarded the President's Volunteer Service Award recognizing outstanding volunteer service achievement.

The success of the YHSC is made possible through a $1.1 million Learn and Serve American grant received by Northwestern Connecticut AHEC from the Corporation for National and Community Service Learn and Serve America.