A Close-Up View of Health-Care Careers

“ER” it isn’t. But Silverado High School’s new Health Care Academy is providing students with on-the-job training that officials hope will encourage them to seek medical careers like those portrayed in the popular TV series.

Wearing white lab coats and picture identification tags, 50 students board a school bus each week and head to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills for an hour of intensive health-care schooling.

The students, who choose the areas in which they work, are assigned to departments throughout the hospital, including pharmacy, radiology, nursing, marketing, food and wellness.

“This place is pretty fun,” said radiology student Chris Parr, 17. “I got to see a heart beat in real time.”

While at the hospital, the students shadow health-care professionals carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities.

The students watch, and sometimes participate, as their mentors distribute medication, chart patients, take X-rays, prepare specialized meals, feed patients and even write marketing materials.

The yearlong program also involves science instruction at school.

“I enrolled because I want to be a nurse,” said Andrea Miranda, 18. The experience has definitely given her an idea of what her career might involve, she said. “I’ve seen a lot of new things.”

Silverado school officials developed the concept and curriculum for the academy last year and approached Saddleback Memorial about participating.

Hospital officials said they welcomed the opportunity to participate and have worked with school officials to match mentors with students and to develop training schedules.

“It’s really a great partnership,” said Jan Gameroz, the hospital’s coordinator for the academy. “It’s been very successful.”

Silverado Principal Barry Lietz said the program has been very popular on campus, providing some struggling students with an incentive to study and helping them to plan for the future.

“We were interested in going beyond ‘ER,’ ” Lietz said. “The program gave the students some goals they can shoot for that are attainable. The students see it as a valid extension of their school work.”

Student Carlos Roacho, 17, who works in Saddleback Memorial’s pharmacy department, said the experience has prompted him to consider a career in the field.

“With the job shadow, you get to see that they do,” Roacho said. “I kind of like it.”

Because the success of the academy has spurred demand, Lietz said, he hopes next year to expand the program to include both Saddleback Memorial and Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center.