A partnership between the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce and Salina Regional Health Center has produced a new program designed to expose high school students to the career opportunities that exist in the healthcare field.

The Real-World Exploring program is a career education program that focuses on helping young adults make a more informed decision about future careers and determine if a particular career is the right one for them. The program is not about lectures and slide shows – it’s about gaining practical, hands-on experience in a career field and the result is a program of activities that helps youth pursue their special interests, grow, and develop.

The healthcare exploring leaders are all Salina Regional Health Center staff that volunteer their time to provide real-world career experiences for young adults in emergency medicine, robotic surgery, trauma, cancer treatment, sports medicine and other departments within the hospital.

“This program is a great way for our facility and our medical professionals to help ignite high school students’ interests in the healthcare field and at the same time give them an introduction to the different occupations and departments that work together in order to operate a high quality healthcare facility.” said Joel Phelps, Senior VP/COO of Salina Regional Healthcare Center.

The healthcare career exploring program is open to any high school aged youth in Saline County and an open house night is scheduled for Thursday, September 25, 2015 at Salina Regional Health Center from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and those attending are asked to meet at the front desk lobby.