Health Careers teaches MUSD students about medical field
Cheryl Behler is the Health Careers instructor at Manteca High. Students from across the Manteca Unified School District attend her classes. There, they receive the skills and knowledge to take onto job sites during their field work. (Alijah Cota/The Tower)
By LIANNA RAMIREZ
The Tower
At Manteca High School, at the very back of the campus near the tennis courts, sits a classroom run by Cheryl Behler, a Health Careers teacher at Manteca High for the past 16 years.
To be a part of the Heath Career program, Behler suggests students be in good academic standing; they’ll also need to be finger-printed and pass a background check in order to attend job sites across the city of Manteca, including hospitals, clinics and schools within the Manteca Unified School District.
“I am excited about the career I have chosen and teach,” she said. “Our Health Careers students are our future health career professionals. I want them to have a solid foundation and make a good mark on this world.”
“Our Health Careers students are our future health career professionals. I want them to have a solid foundation and make a good mark on this world.”
The program is available to all students, including freshmen who have a chance to be a part of the program for four years. Sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible for the year-long course, too. Those that complete the program wear a special honor code during their graduation ceremony. The program is also articulated through San Joaquin Delta College, so students have a chance to earn college credits along the way.
After students join this program, Behler takes them into the real world.
Students shadow medical professionals in hospital and clinical settings. In the last two months, Health Career students have platooned in the operating room, emergency department, and labor and delivery unit. To date, this year’s students have helped deliver four babies, both by C-section and natural births.
“The students are put into real-life situations to understand the reality of what doctors and nurses go through in their daily lives,” Behler said.
It shows that students with a dream of working in the medical field need to prepare themselves to see things that they might make them uncomfortable.
Tomorrow’s doctors & nurses
The students in Cheryl Behler’s Health Careers class get hands-on experience in the medical field, serving as assistants and aids in hospital, clinical and school settings.
Students are required to learn many skills and how to perform patient care, including basic nurse and health care skills, vital signs, bed baths, patient care, nutrition and more. Behler notes that the year-long experience is the equivalent to a certified nursing assistant course or the first semester of nursing school. In all, there are about 30 skills the students must learn before going into the field.
CTE also offers a Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Club for CTE students, where they can compete against other programs. By joining this club, you can develop your hands-on healthcare skills and leadership qualities. The events HOSA Club members compete in range from leadership to hands-on skills, prepared speeches and writing, community awareness, nurse assisting and job seeking skills, clinical nursing, CPR and extemporaneous poster, to name a few.
“HOSA is a club at Manteca High that focuses on teaching other students about the importance of health science,” Behler said.
Manteca High students Ava Garay and Alijah Cota contributed to this report.