Summer Internships inspire youth at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City

It was a kind of a final exam day for 11 local high school students and recent graduates, ending a summer of being interns at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center. The young students each gave presentations about their summer work and future plans, listened to farewell speeches from Kaiser Permanente executives, and took home awards.

For eight weeks, the students were part of the KP Launch program: a paid summer job shadowing doctors, nurses, clinical workers, executives, administrators and others at Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers all across Northern California. The idea behind KP Launch is to encourage young people from diverse communities to consider health care careers and build a pipeline of diverse talent that will become future leaders in healthcare.

Carlos Acosta-Linares, an intern who recently graduated from Sequoia High School, talked about his working experience in the Pharmacy Department at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City, and as he heads off to college at University of California-Merced, he’s looking at becoming a Pharmacist. His brother Luis, also an intern, heads f to UC-Berkeley with a healthcare future in mind.

“Federal statistics show there are 5.4 million jobs available in the US,” said Michelle Gaskill-Hames, the medical center’s Senior Vice President and Area Manager. “Ten percent are in health care but there’s just not enough trained folks to fill those jobs”

Many of the young interns weren’t aware that there is such a wide range of careers in health care and each is important for the health of Kaiser Permanente members. For example, Jennifer Cuevas worked in support services, a department that ensures the smooth operation of the entire medical center; Nicole Esquivel worked in the Quality Department, which makes sure that patient care is the best.

“This is an amazing program,” said Kimberly Seitz, the campus Human Resources Leader. One of the interns, Dakota Leal, worked in her department. “We’re providing young people from the communities we serve with an opportunity to understand the nature of health care.”

The interns came from local high schools like Sequoia, Woodside, Menlo-Atherton, and Summit Prep. In addition to shadowing, they had training in public speaking, preparing presentations, and giving back to the community. They also participated in field trips; one to Google headquarters in Mountain View, and another to Kaiser Permanente’s Garfield Center in San Leandro, where the interns saw how Kaiser Permanente tests the newest innovations in health care.