Peabody, MA – April 15, 2015 – Ever since she was a
little kid, Emily Bettencourt always dreamt of being a doctor. Growing up, the
Peabody High School senior took care of her dolls like they were her little
patients.
“I always thought I would take care of babies,”
Bettencourt said.
Bettencourt got her first taste of the medical field
through Lahey Medical Center, Peabody’s (LMCP) recently-launched internship
program with Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (PVMHS). The program exposes
students to a career in medical assisting through an eight-week program.
The program combines teaching in a classroom setting with
actual, hands-on experience at LMCP. Students shadow clinicians in the
ambulatory surgery area, Emergency Department, laboratory, radiology and
anesthesiology; helping out where they can – from setting up patient rooms to
tending to the needs of the patients.
Thanks to Bettencourt’s experience with the medical
assistant program, she was accepted and will be enrolling in Colby-Sawyer
College’s well-respected nursing program in the fall.
“The medical assistant program absolutely helped me get
into Colby-Sawyer,” Bettencourt said. “It got me exposed to the field and gave
me first-hand knowledge of what it would be life to work in health care.”
Patricia Grady, executive director, Ambulatory Clinical
Services at LMCP, initially met with Maria Ferri, the Vocational Director
at PVMHS, and Denise Raphael, RN, who would be teaching the medical assisting
class to advise them on the program. According to Grady, this program has more
value than ones offered at vocational high schools, which often have programs
for nursing assistants, an inpatient-based role, but few have programs that focus
on medical assistants.
“In health care today, the real growth opportunities are
in the ambulatory care sector where we prefer to hire credentialed medical
assistants who have graduated from an accredited school,” Grady said.
The school needed to
set up a simulation lab and at least three mock exam rooms for the students to
practice their techniques. Grady was able to donate some old equipment from
Lahey including diagnostic boards and other exam room supplies. She also
suggested the school write a grant to the J.B. Thomas Lahey Foundation. Soon
after, the Foundation awarded the school a $14,000 grant, enabling them to
purchase simulation dummies for CPR, a training arm to practice phlebotomy,
stethoscopes, automated blood pressure vital sign machines and other supplies.
About Lahey Health
Lahey Health is what's next in
healthcare, providing a full continuum of integrated health services
close to where you live or work. It is comprised of nationally
recognized, award-winning hospitals—including an academic hospital and
medical center, and community hospitals—primary care providers,
specialist physicians, behavioral health services, post-acute programs
such as home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation
facilities, and senior care resources located throughout northeastern
Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.
Lahey Health offers
nearly 1,000 locally based physicians providing clinical excellence and
an exceptional patient experience in adult and pediatric primary care
and every medical specialty, including kidney and liver transplantation;
neurosurgery, cancer, cardiovascular and orthopedic medical and
surgical care; local emergency and trauma care; urological surgery;
chronic disease prevention and health management; and pediatric
emergency, newborn and inpatient care provided in collaboration with
Boston Children's Hospital physicians.
Lahey Health includes
Lahey Hospital & Medical Center—a teaching hospital of Tufts
University School of Medicine—and Lahey Clinic physician group with
practices in Burlington, Peabody and other locations throughout
northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire; Beverly Hospital;
Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Mass.; Winchester Hospital;
Lahey Health Senior Care and Lahey Health Behavioral Services as well as
more than 30 primary care physician practices and multiple outpatient
and satellite specialty care facilities.
Together, we are making innovative, integrated healthcare more personal and more accessible. For more information, visit LaheyHealth.org and its member websites Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Beverly Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital, Winchester Hospital, Lahey Health Senior Care and Lahey Health Behavioral Services.
CONTACT:
Daniel
Marra
Lahey
Health Media Relations
781-744-9796
Daniel.J.Marra@Lahey.org