Indio Students Take Over Hospital For Career Day

Sixty students from Dr. Carreon Academy spent half their day at JFK Memorial Hospital participating in a mock disaster situation and learning what it takes to have a healthcare career.

Abdul Alwishah wants to be a doctor.

“Because I want to help people, and I want to cure them,” he said.

This is the first time the hospital opened its doors to the school.

“We really want to educate local students in the medical field because we see there’s going to be growth in that field,” said Gloria Margarita, Executive Director of Carreon Foundation. “When they graduate from college, they can come back and find a job easily.”

Registered nurse Sharonda Brown wished she had opportunities like these when she was young.

She’s the nursing director for the hospital’s emergency room. But, Brown said there’s more to healthcare jobs than just doctors and nurses.

“We have EMTs. We have unit secretaries. We have disaster coordinators. We have administrative personnel who play a large role in our day-to-day operations,” she said.

Student Damian Vega liked the idea of being the operations chief for the day.

“I get to help a lot of people to make them feel better so they could still live and see their children and grandchildren,” he said.

According to the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP), 8% of the Coachella Valley’s workforce is in healthcare — a small fraction compared to the hospitality workforce.

But, the average salary of a healthcare worker is $54,000, which is nearly twice that of a hospitality worker.

The school hopes to make this healthcare career field trip an annual event.