For students of the Bronx looking to break into the health care profession with little resources or guidance, Montefiore offered a place for them to turn.
The Summer Mentoring Program for aspiring health care professionals, sponsored by Montefiore Medical Center’s Department of Family and Social Medicine, recently graduated 12 driven and focused students that entered the program this year in a ceremony at the hospital’s Cherkasky Auditorium.
The program is designed to reach minority Bronx students, with no other connection to the health care field, and ranging from seniors in high school to early college students.
“These kids are great strivers and have incredible passion but are not hooked into the system and don’t know how to get the support they need,” explained project director Paul Meissner. “We focus on mentoring and providing that experience.”
The six-week schedule ran from Monday thru Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with students receiving the opportunity to shadow one of the Doctors from Montefiore, monitoring and observing their daily routine, at least twice during the timeframe, right up until its completion on Friday, August 15.
“Shadowing was great depending on the doctor and how much you took out of it,” reflected Crystal Vidal, 21, the most recent graduate of the program, who is now entering her final year at Columbia University. “I would reach out and they would give me guidance. The residents were so helpful with information on medical school and what specialties are available.”
Meissner expressed that the program not only wished to focus on a medical career, but also other career opportunities available throughout the health care profession
“Most of the students want to be pediatricians, but we understand the many challenges involved in medical school,” he said. “We try to expose them to other health care careers such as nursing, pharmacy, social work and public health.”
The program also included field trips to various institutes and local and community facilities, resume and interviewing skill workshops, and visitors to hold health career lunches or discussions.
“We visited a lot of offices like the Department of Health and March of Dimes,” explains Vidal. “We also received great exposure to many of the Montefiore clinics and new projects they are working on.”
Upon completion each student was required to submit a research paper and presentation of a community health project outline, keeping students in touch with their environment and fellow Bronxites.
Each week and at the end of the program assessments were taken to evaluate the experience, identifying positive and negative issues, to continue improving the program and helping student throughout the community excel.
For more information on the program, call (718) 920-8274.
