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THE MEDICAL CENTER
Local Seniors Explore Career
n October 2014, The Medical
I Center, Navicent Health
(MCNH) and Mount de Sales
Academy (MDS) partnered to
create the Senior Transition Experience
Program (STEP). The STEP course is an
internship designed to provide highly
qualified high school seniors the
opportunity to explore career options.
“STEP is designed to be a truly rigorous
course, a benefit to students interested in
pursuing a career in medicine or healthcare. improve care processes and reduce expenses
Students participating in STEP spend
one day per week shadowing a mentor at
Navicent Health while also completing
required reading and written assignments
as they learn about the various careers
in healthcare,” said Mary Pat Dadisman,
Assistant Head of School and Dean of
Students at MDS.
PAG E
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The internship takes place during the
spring semester of the students’ senior
year, and is listed on their transcripts as LEAN Green certification. That has helped
“Introduction to General Medicine/Health
Care.” The program, however, goes one step
farther.
“STEP students are challenged to go
beyond basic healthcare, and have the
opportunity to participate in Navicent
Health’s Lean/Six Sigma training program.
They receive training that will be useful
in any business – they learn how we
while growing revenue and managing
resources,” said Dr. Steve Mayfield, Chief
Optimization Officer for Navicent Health.
STEP graduate Ashton Pearson says the
training has helped her in multiple ways.
“It has helped me a lot with my time
management skills, my presentation skills
and my writing skills. I’m proud to have the
me in all aspects of life. Whether in a
grocery store, a restaurant or at home doing
laundry, I’ve learned to observe a process
and find ways to do it better,” said Pearson.
She was able to use her training to identify
waste and improve processes while
shadowing a local veterinarian this past
summer, and believes the training will be
useful when she opens her own veterinarian
clinic one day.
Pearson and nine other students graduated
as STEP’s initial cohort in April 2015.
The program will continue through 2016
and will be expanded to provide the same
opportunity to both public and private
school students in Bibb County.