Northern Westchester Hospital Hosts Graduation Luncheon for  New Visions Health Students

Twelve High School Students Get Head Start on Education and Careers in Health Care

Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) in Mount Kisco recently hosted a graduation luncheon for its latest group of New Visions Health students. The 12 students spent their senior year of high school at NWH learning about the health care field. During the luncheon, the students had the opportunity to share what they've learned and their future plans with NWH President and CEO Joel Seligman and other members of the Hospital's administrative leadership team.

The New Visions Health program at NWH is run in conjunction with the Tech Center at Yorktown (Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Education Services-BOCES). The honors-level program, which began at NWH in 2002, offers highly motivated, successful high school seniors interested in pursuing a career in the medical field the opportunity to work side by side with health care professionals in various departments of the Hospital. This year's students come from Brewster High School, Carmel High School, and Mahopac High School. Their last day of classes at NWH is June 12.

Students selected to participate in the program spend the school year at NWH, learning the basics of health care and completing high school and  college-level courses in an on-site classroom while spending several hours a week for 24 weeks on rotations, shadowing medical personnel in various departments of the Hospital including Laboratory, the Emergency Department, Pediatrics, Radiology, and the Operating Room. 

Since 2002, the New Visions Health program at NWH has graduated nearly 100 students who have gained invaluable experience and better insight into what they want to do in the future.  "(The students') experiences vary from seeing a baby born to understanding how to sterilize equipment to the administrative and strategic planning of a hospital," said NWH's Vice President of Human Resources Kerry Flynn Barrett. "At the end of the year, we have mature students who know what they want to go on to do or possibly what they don't want. We have had many students go on to prestigious colleges and universities. They have majored in veterinary medicine, nursing, biomedical engineering, pre-med, and more."

At this year's luncheon, Natalie Silva of Mahopac said she is looking forward to attending St. Mary's College in Newburgh, NY, in the fall to major in nursing. She said she began the New Visions program wanting to become a neonatal nurse practitioner, but witnessing an emergency situation during one of her rotations changed her mind.

"I saw a code during the program and I liked the whole adrenaline part of it and having to think on your toes," said Silva, who now has her sights set on becoming an emergency medicine nurse practitioner.

In addition to Silva, this year's NWH New Visions Health class includes Brewster High School senior Maggie Herndon; Carmel High School seniors Michael Alicea, Jessica Bonavenia, Theresa Chillo, Evelyn Chacon, Stefani Dawkins, Amanda Holt, and Julian Torres; and Mahopac High School seniors Victoria Furgiuele, Michael Polito, and Jessica Santiago.

Alicea, who will begin the honors program at Syracuse University in July as a biology major, also changed his career goals slightly as a result of participating in the program at NWH.

"I always wanted to become a surgeon doing cardiac surgeries," he said. "Then once I actually witnessed an orthopedic surgery performed it really sparked my interest and gave me the desire to go into that field."

For more information on the New Visions Health program, call Putnam/ Northern Westchester BOCES at 914-248-2403.

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