JUMP START
Student medical interns share experiences during governor visit
Nicole Tavenner
Polson High School senior Josey Motichka tells Governor Steve Bullock about her experiences as a student intern during his Aug. 31 visit.
Nicole Tavenner
Governor Steve Bullock
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
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Nicole Tavenner
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Nicole Tavenner
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Nicole Tavenner
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Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
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Ever since she was a child, Josey Motichka wanted to grow up and work in a medical career. But, she said, people warned her she would get into it and change her mind.
Her decision was cemented after participating last year as a high school junior in an innovative internship collaboration between Providence St. Joseph Medical Center and Polson High School students.
“It really confirmed this is exactly where I want to go after high school,” Motichka said. “I’ll probably go into pre-med or a nursing program.”
Governor Steve Bullock visited the Polson hospital on Thursday to hear three of the dozen former interns share their experiences. The students underwent a rigorous interview process to be chosen for the intern program.
After a nine-week period learning hospital protocol, selected students spent 90 minutes four days a week for the entire school year working alongside doctors and nurses while exploring a variety of careers in the medical field, spending two to three weeks rotating through each department.
Students journaled their experiences as they earned a credit in health occupations and one credit in health science courses.
The students explained to Bullock the impact last year’s program had on their career choices.
“It kind of confirmed that I want to go to med school and become a doctor,” Abby Ayers said, explaining that she observed “very dramatic” births and surgeries. Ayers said she comes from a whole family of doctors and credits the Polson High School intern program for her acceptance into a Centers for Disease Control internship she attended during the summer in Atlanta, Georgia. She was one of 64 people chosen from 450 worldwide applicants.
Although the program was set up for only one year, many of the students, including Motichka, are continuing with an independent study program during their senior year. Motichka became a certified nursing assistant during the summer break, and will observe the obstetrics/gynecology department and the emergency room.
“Those were my two favorite things to go to, and hopefully I can dig a little deeper and find out, of those two, which I really like,” Motichka said.
Director of Nursing Erin Rumelhart said the students added an unexpected positive energy to the hospital.
“You forget what it’s like to be a new nurse, and it restored our spirit,” she said. “Truly, they are our legacy. This is Polson’s future.”
With Registered Nurses averaging $61,000 a year in Montana, according to Bullock, Bullock expressed interest in taking the program beyond Polson, asking, “Why isn’t this happening in every hospital in every district? How do we better replicate this model in districts across the state?”
The key to spreading the program, Rumelhart believes, is to create relationships between schools and hospitals, show the value of the program and see the positive reinforcement within the community.
“In time we’ll have data to show how many of (the students) return back to their communities, and be able to use that,” she said.
Instituting the inaugural intern program took a “leap of faith by Providence,” according to Polson Superintendent Rex Weltz.
“The confidentiality piece was certainly a concern, (yet) they have the potential to come back as employees,” Weltz said, adding that it’s often a lot easier to do nothing than to it is to do something. “It’s a win-win, but I can’t say enough about the willingness of this institution to allow our students to be here.”
The cooperative effort between the schools and private sector has paid off, according to Providence St. Joseph CEO James Kiser.
“This has been the best ambassador program we’ve ever had,” Kiser said. “Students are telling their parents, friends and family what a great place we have.”
Bullock noted the maturity level of the Polson students after they’d interned, and touted workbased learning as a way for students to be engaged in their career choice early on. Knowing there is such a need in the workforce, he said the state needs to look for ways to reduce seat time in college.
“How can we make it easier,” Bullock asked, “and find ways to get in and out of college classes quicker?”
Ten Polson students that are just beginning their internship program for the 2016-17 school year also attended the governor’s visit.
