Broward High School Students Get Insider's View, Perspective on Careers in Healthcare

Memorial Healthcare System Partners with 5,000 Role Models of Excellence to Spotlight Post-Graduation Opportunities

Nearly 100 young men from five Broward County high schools were recently introduced to the many careers and opportunities that exist in the healthcare industry. The students, most of them from underrepresented communities, participated in hands-on demonstrations at Memorial Regional and Joe DiMaggio Children’s hospitals and heard from Memorial Healthcare System physicians and administrators that came from backgrounds similar to theirs.

The Career Day event was presented in conjunction with 5,000 Role Models of Excellence Project, a program that intervenes in the lives of teens to provide alternatives to crime and violence. Students from Hollywood Hills, Charles W. Flanagan, Boyd H. Anderson, Nova, and Hallandale high schools attended.

“It’s extremely important and impactful for these young men to see representation at the highest level. To see physicians, surgeons, and executive leadership that look like them and come from their communities,” said Marvin K. Smith, MD, chief of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Memorial Regional Hospital and Memorial Regional Hospital South. “I think it’s important for them to understand they can do whatever they set their mind to, and seeing a representation and example of that can really reinforce those ideas.”

Memorial Healthcare System Chief Transformation Officer Vedner Guerrier shared insight about his rise from staff therapist to the C-suite and six physicians offered perspective in a panel discussion/Q&A that highlighted their individual journeys. Students also participated in interactive demonstrations that focused on career opportunities in trauma, surgical services, imaging, transplant, orthopedics, cardiology, and other medical specialties.

Jessie Lee, from Boyd Anderson High School, learned how magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) works and also techniques to stop bleeding in trauma situations. “I’ve always wanted to do something in the medical field, to some degree, and that really inspired me to want to look into that more.”

Students were welcomed to the half-day session by Memorial Healthcare System CEO K. Scott Wester, and it concluded with the presentation of a $3,000 check from Chief Belonging and Equity Officer, Vanessa Nazario, to 5,000 Role Models Coordinator Antonio Burgess. The money will help students offset the cost of college prep expenses.