Fair highlights careers in health

Students attending this year’s Health Programs Fair learned about dozens of different health care-related schools and organizations. The fair included laboratory science careers like the ones in “House” and “CSI” and volunteer programs in the Bloomington area. The Health Professions and Prelaw Center sponsored the event Wednesday in the Indiana Memorial Union Alumni Hall.

Junior Deepa Saha said she wants to go into pediatric medicine, and she attended the fair to have some time for one-on-one conversations with people from admissions.
“It really broadens the idea of how many schools are out there that I can apply to,” Saha said. “The information was really helpful, and I filled out a lot of forms, so they could send me more information.”

Schools from all over the country gathered at the fair to give students as much information about the careers they offer. Radiation Therapy Program Director Donna Dunn has been coming to the Health Programs Fair for several years and said since then, the number of students from the Bloomington campus has been increasing.

“It’s been very helpful,” Dunn said. “We get to introduce ourselves to students. We can encourage people who want to get into our program to do as much observation and job shadowing as possible.”

Admissions representatives said they fielded questions about prerequisites, the importance of volunteering, GPA significance, salary range, information about their campuses and the time commitment of each degree. They also clarified what exactly each profession does.

“I think I’d really like cytotechnology,” freshman attendee Gabrielle Ryan said, referring to the microscopic study of cells for evidence of disease, such as cancer. “I didn’t really know that even existed before, but I found out that they could be researching cancer cells and how they affect the body. I’ve gotten a lot of information.”

Barbara McGahey Frain, clinical assistant professor in the IU School of Medicine’s Cytotechnology Program, said while many students don’t think about cytotechnology as a profession right away or don’t even know what it is, their graduates have a 100 percent employment rate.

“They call us the hidden profession,” McGahey said. “The laboratory is so critically important. 70 percent of a physician’s treatment decisions come from the laboratory.”

Students also found out about volunteer and internship opportunities at several booths. Bloomington Hospital’s Community Health department offers about 10 internships each semester in concentrations such as obesity prevention, Alzheimer’s support and HIV prevention and care. Community Health Educator Hannah Laughlin talked to students about what types of programs her department runs as well as how students can get involved.

“It’s not just doctors and nurses. There are so many outside fields that work in health care to connect each part of the system,” Laughlin said. “We’re the link between the hospital and the community.”

Another way students learned they could get involved was through student-run clubs and organizations on campus. Members from the IU Occupational Therapy Club talked to fair attendees about the activities and events their club participates in, what occupational therapy is and what students should expect in terms of the profession’s salary average.

“We volunteer at many different organizations that help kids with special needs, so we talked to people about that and other stuff like what to expect in graduate school,” club member and sophomore Rachel Rapsinski said.

More unconventional forms of medicine were also represented at the fair. Northwestern Health Sciences University in Minneapolis specializes in chiropractic studies, acupuncture and oriental medicine and massage therapy.

“These aren’t areas everyone thinks of,” Northwestern Admissions Representative Robert Smith said. “A lot of times students who want to go into one of these fields have had a very good experience with it in the past that piqued their interest.”