MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- As healthcare demands rise across the U.S., the next generation of job seekers are focusing their efforts on the medical field.
Students from Lejeune High School’s Health Sciences/Nurse Aide I aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune visited the United States Naval Hospital Ship Comfort, recently.
Students enrolled in the program gain better knowledge of the medical field and graduate high school with skills to deliver safe and effective patient care.
The program illustrates the different options given in the medical field. The high school students are afforded the opportunity to graduate high school with a national certification that has trained them for jobs in the medical field.
The program exposes them to careers the students have a desire in, said Angelia Washington, the Health Sciences Educator and Nurse Aide I program coordinator aboard base.
The program planned a visit to the Comfort for over two years, and finally did so. The students were taken aboard the vessel and given a tour of the medical facilities.
“I’ve been planning this trip for two and a half years,” said Washington. “I’ve wanted my students to visit the Comfort since I started the program in 2010. I was determined to get my students to the Comfort.”
Emergency precautions and treatment facilities were demonstrated during the tour. The guide showed them more than 15 facilities aboard the ship.
“My students will remember that they’ve chosen a field that actually makes a difference in people’s lives,” said Washington. “One of the things the Comfort does is humanitarian relief efforts. So going to different parts of the world just to help others who cannot help themselves is magnificent.”
The students are also assigned a mentor, said Navy Lt. Carlton Bennett, a senior level nursing adviser aboard base.
“The mentors give them someone to ask their questions to,” said Bennett. “And once the students reach the medical field they have someone to talk to.”
The program showcases options available in the medical field.
“Even if we don’t already know exactly what field we want to get into yet,” said Katelin Coram, a Lejeune High School student. “It gives us options, it’s exciting getting trained and gaining experience. I’ve learned there’s a lot you don’t know in the medical field.”