Partnering To Prepare The Future Healthcare Workforce
The South Dakota HOSA-Future Health Professionals (HOSA) has been partnering with the South Dakota Foundation for Medical Care (SDFMC) to educate and encourage high school students interested in healthcare careers. HOSA’s trifold mission focuses on energizing and engaging students to envision themselves as future health professionals in South Dakota and aligns with SDFMC’s mission to collaborate with partners to improve health outcomes.
Through HOSA’s Competitive Events Program (CEP), students experience hands-on learning and gain confidence and understanding about healthcare professions. SDFMC’s PFL team joins the effort by providing training and resources from Project Firstline (PFL), a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national infection prevention and control training initiative.
“The students we have worked with through HOSA are hungry for knowledge and eager to learn,” emphasized Jess Danko, MHSA, RRT, LTC-CIP, SDFMC’s PFL program director. “We engage youth in the excitement and impact of infection prevention and control and teach them basic practices they can use every day. We share valuable information to keep students healthy and support their career goals in one setting.”
Danko recognizes the value of HOSA partnership with the PFL program. "Providing opportunities to understand infection prevention work for students in the HOSA program opens their minds to healthcare career options. They may work to offset healthcare associated infections (HAIs), provide infection control education, and identify the location of an infectious disease outbreak. Infection prevention careers save lives.”
Brock Rops, MEd, executive director for South Dakota HOSA, describes the organization as a gateway to becoming a health care professional. “I am able to encourage and nurture students who have an interest in pursuing a career in health care. These students have found a love for what they are doing as nurses, physicians, therapists, social workers, dentists, pharmacists as well as others. With the crisis in health care workforce, HOSA stresses the importance of these careers in South Dakota.”
The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and the South Dakota Area Health Education Center established the state HOSA chapter in 2012 in response to the great need for future health professionals. The initial seven pilot schools and 260 students became 42 chapters, 1100 members, and 2600 alumni. Students interested in joining HOSA can find more information on local chapters at https://sdhosa.org/.
“We aim to build confidence in students as they seek to better understand what a health care career looks like,” Rops explained. “One of the greatest challenges we face are students from these smaller, rural communities being so involved in other activities that they don't have time for something else. However, students and schools are finding out the rewards and benefits of HOSA-Future Health Professionals and making it a higher priority.”
SD PFL has provided countless touch points at individual chapters and the state conference. The PFL team answers pressing questions and emphasizes the importance of infection prevention and control in healthcare and daily life.
During the 2023 HOSA State Conference, the PFL team demonstrated numerous infection prevention and control practices, including how to properly use and put on personal protective equipment (PPE). Those who attend the 2024 HOSA Conference will join the PFL team to test their PPE skills and in a speed relay and participate in the nationally recognized SD PFL Scavenger Hunt, which can be found at https://www.sdprojectfirstline.org.