Following the success of two community coordinated and business-led events in October 2022 and April 2023, a third Discover Healthcare event is in planning for November 2023.
Over 100 students from regional high schools attended the Discover Healthcare career exploration event at Northwood Technical College in Ashland, Wisconsin, on April 28, 2023. Through 23 handson activities, students had the opportunity to see what it’s like to work in a variety of healthcare careers ranging from radiology to dentistry.
NORTHFORCE hosted the Ashland Discover Healthcare event in collaboration with a variety of partners including healthcare professionals from local and regional facilities, nonprofit organizations, and workforce development entities. Sponsors for the Ashland event were Essentia Health, Memorial Medical Center, and Northwood Technical College.
To help coordinate the event, NORTHFORCE worked with intern Jessica Polencheck, a student at Northwood Technical College’s Ashland campus. In addition to many other tasks, Jessica handled event setup, surveys, and correspondence for attending healthcare professionals, vendors, schools, and volunteers.
In response to severe workforce shortages in the Northland, the purpose of Discover Healthcare is to allow attendees to explore career paths in high-demand fields. This innovative model for career exploration builds on the success of the Discover Healthcare open house which took place at The College of St. Scholastica on October 5, 2022. Focused exclusively on healthcare, it allowed students and community members to learn about high-paying careers available regionally.
