Record Turnout For Northern Westchester Hospital’s Medical Career Expo

MOUNT KISCO, NY — Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) held its 5th annual Medical Career Expo on November 4, with over 160 junior high, high school and college students attending, setting a new record for the event.

The hands-on career development day highlighted a variety of healthcare jobs in at least 13 different disciplines, ranging from robotic surgery to administration and from nursing to food service.

The career expo, which was organized by the NWH’s community health department and staffed by approximately 40 hospital employees, provided students with in-depth descriptions of potential healthcare jobs, their responsibilities and answers to their questions.

Depending on the specialty, each booth offered students the ability to try hands-on training, including a Mako robotic-arm for orthopedics, a blood pressure cuff at the nursing booth, and the highly popular da Vinci surgical system for robotic surgery.

NWH’s youth leadership program, the President’s Junior Leadership Council (PJLC), which helps promote community health and wellness, also participated by leading fellow students through the booths as a peer-to-peer leadership opportunity.

In addition to physician and nursing careers, there were also booths highlighting a variety of professions that are also critical to running a hospital, including operations management, engineering, food and nutrition and even pet therapy.

"The Medical Career Expo is all about creating a pipeline for young students to go into healthcare," Amy Rosenfeld, senior program manager of student experiences and school-based partnerships at NWH, said. "Our hope is to spark students’ passions and help fill the healthcare shortages expected in the future. Since we started hosting this event in 2018, many students have followed a career path into medicine and are now employed here at the hospital."

The healthcare shortage in the U.S. is expected to worsen over the next ten years.

"I came to this year’s event because I am interested in medicine, but I am not sure exactly which career path to take," Fox Lane High School junior/member of PJLC Cara Drapala said. "To learn about all the different types of medical careers was helpful. I tried the da Vinci robot, which was cool."

Find our more about Northern Westchester Hospital's Student Experience programs here.