Ascension Providence camp brings young people into healthcare jobs

Ascension Providence recently completed a healthcare camp for kids, designed to bring more young people into the healthcare profession. Hosted for the second year by Ascension Providence and in coordination with Texas Area Health Education Center and Waco Family Medicine, the program is called CHAMPS Camp. CHAMPS (Careers in Health and Medicine Program) is a pipeline program for underserved youth and youth of color who are interested in careers in medicine. These impressive teens had an immersive week of camp, learning medicine and demystifying hospital and care settings.

The students were at Ascension Providence for a full week of all-day learning about a variety of medical career opportunities. The final day was “shadow day,” where kids were paired with areas of interest such as family medicine and pediatrics, sports medicine, sports rehab, wound care, ER, OR, labor and delivery, radiology and catheter lab. Doctors and Ascension Providence associates said the teens were highly engaged and enthusiastic about what they learned.

On the last day of camp, the focus was emergency medicine where staff showed the kids a helicopter and ambulance and visited with kids about careers in emergency medicine. The camp ended with a graduation ceremony at TopGolf – students ate and played golf but also learned about staying successful and completing college admissions.

CHAMPS Camp is a partnership between Ascension Providence, Waco Family Medicine and the Texas Area Health Education Center to work with local schools and invite students to go into careers in healthcare. Many of the students are enrolled in either Greater Waco Advanced Health Care Academy or Health Occupations Students of America programs within their school districts, and this program helps them decide which direction to take their healthcare career.