One of the biggest hurdles in healthcare recruitment is a simple lack of awareness. When young people picture a hospital, they often only see two roles, missing out on dozens of other rewarding career paths. The Copper Country Intermediate School District’s (CCISD) Career and Technical Education (CTE) Health Careers program actively works to change this perception by rotating students through various departments.
"Every time that I go to a high school or a middle school event, my message is, can you tell me about a job in a hospital that's not a doctor or a nurse? And most people can't really think of one. They only think that there are doctors and nurses. There are so many other careers in hospitals that you can do that aren't the doctor or nurse. Not that doctors and nurses aren't important, but we also need surgical techs and respiratory therapists and PTAs and lab techs and all of those jobs that people just don't know about, especially kids." – Lindsay Jenson, Aspirus Talent Delivery Partner
This exploration is a core tenet of the CCISD's curriculum, allowing students to step outside the hospital walls entirely.
"Health care is more than just nursing and doctors, and that's what our class is. It's the exploration of health careers, so that's why we have placements for our students at spots that aren't only nursing-related. They have placements at the dentist, the chiropractor, physical therapy, and the ambulance; there are so many more work-based learning placements that they can get exposure to through the CTE Health Careers class. Students are placed at many of the departments at BCMH (Baraga County Memorial Hospital), such as the laboratory, radiology, and the physicians' group, so that they see the clinic side of things, which could be more like the medical assisting side as well. It's that variety of options for them outside of the traditional nurses and doctors that they get to explore and experience." – Brooke Osterman, CCISD CTE Health Careers Instructor (Baraga County)
Finding the Right Fit Before College
By allowing students to shadow professionals in real-world environments, the program helps them figure out what they want to do—and just as importantly, what they do not want to do—saving them time and tuition money down the road.
"I see it as important because I think a lot of times people will start going to school for a certain degree. There are examples of people who went to become a CNA, and they get there, and they're like, whoa, this is not what I signed up for. Or, if they say, I want to go be a nurse, they walk into the ER, they're sitting there for a day, and they're like, ‘Oh, this gives me anxiety. I couldn't do this.’ So, the CTE Health Careers program and work-based learning placements help give students exposure to different areas they can learn they like and want to pursue. Or, maybe not, and there’s value in learning that too." – Dana Hansen, Administrator for Home Care and Hospice at BCMH
Building Confidence and a Head Start
The hands-on, minds-on experience translates directly into unmatched confidence when these students enter higher education or the workforce. Jennifer Heltunen has seen this firsthand, both as a local laboratory director and as a parent of several of her own children who have been in the CTE Health Careers program.
"I can speak on behalf of my daughter, who went through CTE for two years, and is now in the medical lab science program at Michigan Tech. The exposure time that she got through her work-based learning placement in the lab at UPHS-Portage, because of her status as a second-year CTE Health Careers student, put her leaps and bounds ahead of some of her college classmates who may not have had those same experiences as she has had through the Copper Country ISD CTE programs. She was able to TA the phlebotomy class at Michigan Tech because she had already earned a phlebotomy certificate in her second year of the CTE Health Careers program while she was still in high school."
"I think it gives students confidence. Having been exposed to these things already, even just watching, they come in with a confidence that is unrivaled by those who are coming into it for the first time as an intern or student or whatever the case may be." – Jennifer Heltunen, Laboratory Director, UP Health System - Portage
Retaining Committed Local Talent
For local hospitals, the CTE Health Careers program serves as a critical pipeline for students in local high schools to take the next steps toward furthering their education that may be needed as a next step in their healthcare career goals. Recruiting professionals from outside the area can be challenging due to the region's unique climate and culture, making the retention of local students incredibly valuable.
"I feel like we have such a unique community with distinct characteristics. We know our community and know that many of our youth would like to stay, so that is who I would think we might consider recruiting more of, given that many are going to stay here if at all possible. Whereas if we're bringing somebody in from outside of our area, they come with the best of intentions, but may or may not appreciate the uniqueness of our communities, or especially our weather systems." – Jennifer Heltunen
The program allows these local students to get their foot in the door with potential future employers long before they even graduate.
"They're getting exposure to the actual healthcare facilities, the very hospitals that will potentially be offering them jobs in the future if they want to stay local." – Lindsay Jenson
A Collaborative Community Effort
Ultimately, the success of the CCISD CTE Health Careers program for both Houghton-Keweenaw and Baraga Counties hinges on the strong partnerships between the educators and the healthcare facilities that open their doors to students.
"It's the exposure and the exploration part, and I firmly believe our local healthcare industry partnerships are invaluable. I can show students experiences through video or research, but when I can actually get students into the clinic or in rehab or wherever they're placed, and they're working with the people that are doing it, they get a much better feel of what it might be like." – Amanda Hermanson, CCISD CTE Health Careers Instructor (Houghton-Keweenaw Counties)
As the program continues to grow, it remains a positive example of how community collaboration creates mutual success.
"Between the CTE Health Careers program along with the CTE Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) program at both the Career Tech Center in Hancock and also at and in partnership with Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC) in L’Anse, we have over 100 students who are in the Copper Country ISD CTE Health Sciences programs alone out of just over 350 students total in all CTE programs combined from across Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw Counties. This would absolutely not be possible to the level our CTE Health Sciences instructors and healthcare industry partners provide for local students from all area high schools, including homeschool students, without the exposure that we keep talking about here, without BCMH, without Aspirus, without UP Health System - Portage and PortagePointe, without Bayside Village, without Canal View - Houghton County, without Green Tree of Hubbell, and you can go on and on with our partner list." – Corey Soumis, CCISD CTE Director
"I think at the end of the day, if CTE didn't benefit us and our communities, we wouldn't be doing this. So, there clearly is a mutual benefit to this partnership." – Jennifer Heltunen