NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital played host to 15 interns during this year’s Summer Youth Experience Program.
Throughout the five-week program, interns gained valuable workplace experience and skills in a variety of settings throughout the hospital — from shadowing nurses, to working in engineering, to helping with administrative operations. This once-in-a-lifetime experience has given this group of teens a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at all of the many roles that go into putting patients first. These teens may take doctor of nursing courses or any other medical-related programs if they choose to enter the healthcare industry.
Gabrielle Calderon, a 19-year-old nursing major from Ossining, has spent the last month as a nursing intern, shadowing one of the hospital’s patient care directors and doing tasks such as attending rounds. “I’m learning a lot and enjoying the chance to get hands-on experience and meet patients while having someone right beside me to answer all of my questions.”
Allison Morelo, a 16-year-old high school student from Yonkers interning in the Cheryl R. Lindenbaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, noted that she has found the program to be an enriching experience, especially because now she can see what healthcare workers, including her mother, do each day. Her mother Alicia Guerrero is a patient experience lead, and also served as coordinator for the hospital’s Summer Youth Experience Program.
“I’m proud and honored to have been chosen as the coordinator for such an amazing and enthusiastic group of interns. As a mother, it was an opportunity to show my daughter why I love what I do and why I’m so proud to work for NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital,” noted Guerrero.
On the administrative operations side, 17-year-old Cortlandt resident Nish Mistry spent the last few weeks working on an emergency management plan as well as other projects to enhance efficiency at the hospital. “The biggest thing that I’ve learned here is that the team anticipates and prepares for every possible situation. Problem solving is something you need in all career paths no matter where you go.”
The program concluded August 13, with an outdoor fiesta luncheon sendoff for the interns as they prepare for the upcoming school year. This marks the second year of the program.
