Approximately 150 students from 11 Philadelphia high schools attended the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund’s Health Career Fair, an annual career exploration event at the Training Fund’s Breslin Learning Center in Center City Philadelphia.
The 2014 Health Career Fair featured 25 healthcare and human service professionals from across the Greater Philadelphia region, whose generous donations of time and expertise helped make the Fair a success. Speakers at this year’s event included nurses, midwives, physical therapists, social workers, dentists, hospital system and insurance company administrators, behavioral health specialists, and others. Dr Walter Tsou, MD, MPH, delivered an inspiring and informative keynote address; Dr Tsou, a public health and healthcare reform consultant as well as a visiting faulty member at the University of Pennsylvania, is a former Philadelphia Health Commissioner and American Public Health Association President.
This range of speakers helped student attendees at the Career Fair widen their perceptions of what it means to work in the local healthcare sector, and begin to grasp the huge range of employment opportunities open to students with almost any set of skills, interests and aptitudes.
In addition to ten Career Panels, the Fair included interactive occupational health-and-safety training led by peer trainers from Lincoln High School. Four Lincoln students, who received their training through an OSHA-funded worker education program operated by the Training Fund, led their peers through hands-on, interactive educational presentations on disease transmission/prevention, dealing with hazards in the workplace, and other important occupational safety and health topics.
The 2014 Health Career Fair featured 25 healthcare and human service professionals from across the Greater Philadelphia region, whose generous donations of time and expertise helped make the Fair a success. Speakers at this year’s event included nurses, midwives, physical therapists, social workers, dentists, hospital system and insurance company administrators, behavioral health specialists, and others. Dr Walter Tsou, MD, MPH, delivered an inspiring and informative keynote address; Dr Tsou, a public health and healthcare reform consultant as well as a visiting faulty member at the University of Pennsylvania, is a former Philadelphia Health Commissioner and American Public Health Association President.
This range of speakers helped student attendees at the Career Fair widen their perceptions of what it means to work in the local healthcare sector, and begin to grasp the huge range of employment opportunities open to students with almost any set of skills, interests and aptitudes.
In addition to ten Career Panels, the Fair included interactive occupational health-and-safety training led by peer trainers from Lincoln High School. Four Lincoln students, who received their training through an OSHA-funded worker education program operated by the Training Fund, led their peers through hands-on, interactive educational presentations on disease transmission/prevention, dealing with hazards in the workplace, and other important occupational safety and health topics.
This year’s Health Career Fair was organized by the Training Fund-sponsored Greater Philadelphia Healthcare Partnership in collaboration with a team of first-year Wharton School undergraduate students. The Health+ student team recruited speakers and sponsors and organized all career exploration and interactive panels; in coming weeks, the students will also complete a comprehensive evaluation of the Career Fair and its programming, analyzing survey data and making recommendations for Fair improvement for their “Management 100” course at Wharton.
Students attendees at the 2014 Career Fair represented Abraham Lincoln, Jules E Mastbaum, A Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr, Paul Robeson, John Bartram, Overbrook and South Philadelphia High Schools, YouthBuild Charter School, Kensington Health Sciences Academy and Franklin Learning Center. Training Fund Executive Director Cheryl Feldman stressed the importance of the Fund’s commitment to supporting the School District of Philadelphia and its students: “This is one of the most important events the Fund organizes each year,” she explained. “Helping to get young people interested in and informed about health careers is vital to ensuring that local employers have a pipeline of qualified applicants to meet their future hiring needs.”
The District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund’s Health Career Fair is an annual event, held each November. Philadelphia high schools interested in attending future events should contact the School District’s Office of Career & Technical Education. Students interested in healthcare training programs offered by the Training Fund can visit www.1199ctraining.org, call 215-568-2220, or stop in to the Breslin Learning Center at 100 South Broad Street (intersection of Broad and Chestnut Streets), 10th Floor.
Click here for full Event Recap PDF.
Students attendees at the 2014 Career Fair represented Abraham Lincoln, Jules E Mastbaum, A Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr, Paul Robeson, John Bartram, Overbrook and South Philadelphia High Schools, YouthBuild Charter School, Kensington Health Sciences Academy and Franklin Learning Center. Training Fund Executive Director Cheryl Feldman stressed the importance of the Fund’s commitment to supporting the School District of Philadelphia and its students: “This is one of the most important events the Fund organizes each year,” she explained. “Helping to get young people interested in and informed about health careers is vital to ensuring that local employers have a pipeline of qualified applicants to meet their future hiring needs.”
The District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund’s Health Career Fair is an annual event, held each November. Philadelphia high schools interested in attending future events should contact the School District’s Office of Career & Technical Education. Students interested in healthcare training programs offered by the Training Fund can visit www.1199ctraining.org, call 215-568-2220, or stop in to the Breslin Learning Center at 100 South Broad Street (intersection of Broad and Chestnut Streets), 10th Floor.
Click here for full Event Recap PDF.