Scrub Club impacts career choices

DOVER — The Scrub Club program was developed by Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center (AHEC) during 2012 and launched as a pilot program initiated at Dover High School during the 2012-2013 school year with 21 student members. Since that time, the Dover Scrub Club has increased to 30 members who have engaged in a variety of interactive programs, hands-on activities and meaningful field trips designed to introduce these students to various health occupations as future career options. In November of last year, Sheila DePaola, AmeriCorps member with Hudson River HealthCare and intern for Catskill Hudson AHEC, asked Scrub Club members a variety of questions to evaluate the effectiveness of this program. Their responses confirmed the impact this program has had on their future and career decisions.When asked, “What makes Scrub Club different from any other Club?” students replied: • “Scrub Club caters more toward people who don’t have knowledge about a certain field — whereas, other clubs are for people who know a lot about the topic.”• “It helped me eliminate certain careers from my prospective jobs and narrow down what I want to do.”• “Scrub Club focuses on the future and preparing for the real world/careers. It motivated and prepared me to make important decisions about careers I didn’t even know existed.”DePaola reported that, although not all of the students knew the exact career they wanted to pursue, all of the students said that Scrub Club has definitely helped them make the decision to enter the health field.DePaola also asked, “Why did you first decide to be in Scrub Club, and what made you stay?” Student responses were: • “I wanted to help people and didn’t know how, so I joined Scrub Club, and it’s helping me figure out which career I will enjoy while accomplishing my goal of helping people.”• “I joined because my friends were Scrub Club members. I continued because I love learning about the different health careers.”• “I was interested in a healthcare career anyway, and Scrub Club was fun. It solidified my interest.”• “I knew I wanted to get into the medical field, but when I joined Scrub Club I realized that everywhere you go, you need health care. It’s a growing field, and health professionals are in demand. It’s just a great career choice.”Lastly, when gathering information on Scrub Club likes and dislikes, DePaola conveyed that most students liked the “informative and hands-on activities, field trips, guest speakers, volunteer work, CPR certification, meeting professionals, tours and the instructor’s personal stories that related to various topics.” However, they did report “difficulties in making meetings with scheduling conflicts and they wish sessions were longer and more frequent.”Scrub Club has been implemented in six area high schools, two BOCES, two community-based, at-risk youth programs and the SUNY New Paltz Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) within the Catskill Hudson AHEC 11-county region. The Scrub Club curriculum is versatile and can be utilized as a longitudinal program, after-school activity, or can easily be incorporated into daily school curriculum.Katherine Doyle is program and marketing coordinator for Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center.