Teens find out about health care opportunities at career fair
BUTLER TWP — About 40 Butler Senior High School students spent their Friday morning learning about the many and varied careers available inside a busy hospital.
Students attending the Butler Health System High School Career Fair heard several speakers give brief talks on careers in health care, then broke into smaller groups and rotated through eight breakout sessions.
Those who spoke in Findley Auditorium were Ken DeFurio, Butler Health System CEO; Dr. David Rottinghaus, president of BHS Physicians Network and chief medical officer; Trisicia Bartley, RN, director of patient experience and hospitality; physical therapist Monica Pelligrino; and radiologist Amanda Maley.
Maley explained the job of a radiologist, the schooling required, and how to move up to a job in nuclear medicine, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasound imaging. Tomography is a technique for displaying a representation of a cross section through a human body or other solid object using X-rays or ultrasound.
Maley has worked at Butler Memorial Hospital for 16 years.
“My favorite part is being able to talk with your patients,” she said.
During her breakout sessions on respiratory therapy, Kerri Herold, director of respiratory care at the hospital, told students that post-surgery, COPD, bronchitis, asthma, emphysema and COVID-19 patients most frequently require respiratory care.
“We care for people from their first breath to their last,” she said.
Herold showed students various equipment used by those in her department, including a ventilator for patients who cannot breathe on their own, plus a spirometer used to strengthen weak lungs, nebulizer, pulse oximeter, stethoscope and oxygen mask.
She told the students that many schools in the region now offer respiratory therapy programs from an 18-month certification program to a four-year bachelor’s degree.
“Is one better than the other? No,” Herold said. “We have a mix in our department.”
In between sessions, Herold said she hopes more young adults pursue careers in health care, which lost workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I feel like now, the younger generation is realizing how important health care is,” she said.
Herold said respiratory care is a good career because workers complete a diverse variety of tasks, work hands-on with patients, and for one other reason.
“We have good gadgets,” she said.
Kileigh Comston, a Butler High senior, listened attentively to Herold’s presentation and looked forward to attending the other seven breakout sessions.
“I feel like I’ll get an idea of the atmosphere and work setting in a hospital,” Kileigh said of the career fair. “I think they’re doing a really nice job explaining everything.”
Kileigh, who hopes to become a registered nurse, is glad she signed up for the career fair. “It’s never a bad idea to take advantage of opportunities like this,” she said. “Everyone has something different to say, and they’re all so great.”
Lacy Edgington, a Butler High sophomore, said she hopes to get certified in a medical field so she can work in a hospital while she attends medical school to become a surgeon.
“I watch a lot of (medical) TV shows, so surgery really caught my attention, and now I want to achieve that goal,” Lacy said.
She also appreciated the career fair and the information she gleaned from it.
“It’s really helpful,” Lacy said. “I didn’t realize there were this many careers you could have in the medical field.”
The other breakout sessions were environmental services and maintenance, heart and lung, imaging, information technology, lab, nursing, physical therapy and occupational therapy.
Sheila Neff, RN, Butler Health System’s clinical advancement educator, said she hopes the students learn that there are many jobs inside a hospital besides being a doctor or nurse.
She said that in addition to physical therapy, imaging, information technology and other professions, no hospital could operate without dedicated employees in the dietary, environmental services or maintenance departments.
“It’s important for high school kids to see all the different opportunities within the hospital,” she said. “All of those parts play a role in patient care.”
