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2008

FUTURE FACES OF HEALTH CARE

Pioneer Memorial Hospital mentors students

Micah Perry smiled as he prepared to stick a needle in his co-worker Nikki Hepworth's arm. He easily located her vein and drew a quick vial of blood, demonstrating his proficiency as a phlebotomist.

"During my junior year I job shadowed up here...I really wanted to be a lab tech after I did that," Perry, 18, a senior at Crook County High School said of how his journey toward phlebotomy began. "I had a big fear of needles and a big fear of blood too. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I figured I wouldn't be able to take it."

Perry chose to learn phlebotomy for his senior project. The project is a graduation requirement that asks students to spend a number of hours on a subject of their choice, write a paper on their topic and make a presentation in front of a panel of judges. Perry completed his requirements for the project and continued working in the PMH lab, said Vicki Birkby, lab manager for PMH. He did such a good job, they hired him as a relief phlebotomist and he's now a paid member of the staff.

"He has since decided to become a medical technologist," Birkby said. "It's an area where there is a great shortage in the workplace."

Pioneer Memorial Hospital partners with Crook County High School on a variety of programs that teach students about careers in the health care industry. The high school offers a health occupations class and students complete rotations in the hospital's lab, pharmacy, operating rooms and nursing areas. With many workforce shortages in the health care industry, Birkby said it only makes sense to work with students in the hope of inspiring them to pursue healthrelated careers. And, if they start out at PMH, they might one-day return to the Prineville hospital to work full time.

In the case of Dezarae Boyd-France, the program has been a success. Boyd-France, 19, completed her senior project in pharmacy at PMH last year and is now studying to become a pharmacist at Oregon State University. She's not yet certain that Prineville will be her postcollege destination, but said her mentors at the hospital pharmacy are grooming her to take over one day.