Advocate Good Shepard Hospital is hosting a healthcare career night on April 5 where students are given the chance to talk to professionals about careers in health care.

“It’s a way to have a lot of options and opportunities to talk to the professionals and learn more about that career just so you really understand [the career]. Sometimes you have an idea about something but is that really what the career is, so it’s a way to check if [the career really is what you thought it was],” Beth Slaughter, one of the coordinators of the event said. “The professionals may say, ‘oh, did you realize you have to be really good with your hands to do this?’ or ‘you have to be very outgoing’ and you need certain skills for a job, and those are good things to think about when considering what you might want to go into.”

The exposure one gets from attending an event like this has personally impacted Lauren Babb, a member of the Medical Science Club.

“I think the most important thing about being exposed to health care careers is the fact that members can learn about the extent that the health care professions go. For example, just this year, one of our guest speakers was interested in hospital and health care administration, which helped me see a whole new side of the career path,” Babb said. “I think other students could also see the wide variety of careers that are considered to be in the health care realm, which is super important.”

The event is free and an open house format, where students can attend any time between 5pm and 8pm and are given an opportunity to visit different departments based on their interests.

“It’s going to be laid out where if you have a specific interest, you can go see the specific department, like the ER department or radiology, and you’ll be able to make it benefit you based on your interest because we will be having so much to offer for everybody and each department is coming up with how they will share their ideas and what that department represents,” Slaughter said.

The event is being put on by Advocate Good Shepard Hospital partnering with Barrington High School and Lake Zurich High School.

“Each of the high schools took a part of pulling this event together, like Barrington High School made the flyer and are working on communication and the Lake Zurich group, through the Medical Science Club, they created all the signs at the event and a map for the layout of the program. They will be there greeting and welcoming and directing people,” Slaughter said. “This is the first time they are doing and the hope is that it will be a huge success and this is intended to attract people from all over because of the value of the information.”