CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — More than 80 Lehigh Valley high school students had the opportunity to learn about what a career in nursing is like during National Nurses Week.
Nurses in different sectors of the field spoke to the teens this week at a nursing simulation.
- Lehigh Valley high school students had the opportunity to see firsthand what it's like to be a nurse
- A nursing simulation was held during National Nurses Week
- It was held at Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Center for Healthcare Education in Center Valley
Students from 10 area schools took part in the event at Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Center for Healthcare Education in Center Valley. The facility opened this year.
"It's expanded my horizons as to what nursing is in the hospital and what different branches there are,” Northern Lehigh High School junior Ainsley Behr said.
Ainsley said she came to get a better understanding of medical careers.
"I want to be a nurse because I love science and teaching people and I'm interested in the flexibility of it, as well," she said. "So the different options and different paths that you can go down with nursing.”
Ainsley and her peers heard from nurses in different specialties, such as behavioral health, emergency room, nurse educators and flight nurse.
Learning nursing in real life
Annmarie Chavarria, Lehigh Valley Health Network's chief nursing executive, talked about the benefits of the program.
"We are spending time with some of our high school students, really trying to explain to them what it means to be a nurse, and all different types of nursing and all the opportunities we have for nurses," Chavarria said.
The residual effects of the pandemic are still lingering and causing a huge problem in nursing.Annmarie Chavarria, Chief Nursing Executive, Lehigh Valley Health Network
"Nursing is something that people had some idea of what nurses were. I think the [COVID-19] pandemic gave people a different idea and so we really want to make sure people have the realistic idea of what it means to be a nurse and all the options when you're nursing."
Chavarria said that in addition to the experience being educational, it helps recruit new nurses to the field.
"The residual effects of the pandemic are still lingering and causing a huge problem in nursing, not just nursing, but a lot of other health care positions."
The day wrapped up with the students participating in medical simulations.
"I think they're going to definitely gain a better understanding of what is available for them when they do graduate high school and finally get into the career,” said Amanda Weidenhammer, who teaches biomedical science at Parkland High School.
Weidenhammer chaperoned about 10 students from Parkland’s Project Lead the Way, which supports teens in pre-med courses and is on track to join the medical field.
In the classroom, we can teach the clinical part; we can teach the medical component. But to actually hear what these nurses go through and what their typical day is like and that really, what was amazing to me even was all the different opportunities that are available just to be a nurse.Amanda Weidenhammer, who teachers biomedical science at Parkland High School
"In the classroom, we can teach the clinical part; we can teach the medical component," Weidenhammer said.
"But to actually hear what these nurses go through and what their typical day is like and that really, what was amazing to me even was all the different opportunities that are available just to be a nurse."
Chavarria, the LVHN chief nursing executive, concluded by saying that in addition to being hosts for high school students, it conducts programs with colleges, as well as offers promissory notes and scholarships to try to have people join health care.
