Next Generation of Healthcare Professionals, HILT Career Day a Success

On October 16^th, over 500 middle and high school students attended Charting Your Way to a Healthcare Career, an all-day career exploration event at the Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture in South Park.

“Opportunities like Charting Your Way to a Healthcare Career, focuses on providing access for students to meet with healthcare professionals,” said
Nancy Yamamoto, Workforce Development Director at the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development.

“By having a dedicated space to explore different healthcare career options, students have the chance to connect with someone who might look like them or reflect their background.”

Charting Your Way to a Healthcare Career, emerged from the Seattle-King County Healthcare Industry Leadership Table (HILT). HILT is a self-convened network of healthcare organizations in Seattle-King County who came together to share and take action in improving access to a skilled healthcare workforce.

80 healthcare professionals were located through five topic areas for students to explore:

• Occupation Stations – one-on-one conversations with pediatricians, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals
• Nurse Team Huddle – a student nurse focus group
• Discharge Station – students pick up swag and dress the part, posing for selfies
• Healthcare Organization booths – hosted by many regional hospitals and clinics
• Education Pathways booth – hosted by local post-secondary institutions

Healthcare professionals share their experiences with students, answered questions about their work, and gave insight into their professional journey.

The healthcare industry accounts for 10% per cent of total jobs in King County, and adds $28.4 million to Washington State’s economy annually. [1]

The demand for a talented healthcare workforce is high. From 2008 to 2019 the number of healthcare jobs in the greater Seattle area increased by 37.5 per cent.

Medical Assistants and Nurses have the highest demand in the region. On average, there are 2,612 job openings annually for Medical Assistants and Nurses.

Over 20 healthcare providers such as SeaMar Community Health, Kaiser Permanente, Healthpoint, Swedish, and more were present at the career day.

Sponsors include Washington STEM, HILT employers, Seattle Public Schools, Highline Public Schools, WorkSource. Seattle Jobs Initiative, an OED contractor, was the fiscal agent and OED helped staff and organize the event.  

[1] 2018 data from Economic Modeling Specialists (EMSI)