Students see healthcare up close

  • Students Blair Deal and Trent Davis look over a patient’s chart with LPN Candy Burgess at Georgia Mountains Health. The two students are juniors at Fannin County High School and are a part of the General Medicine class’ clinical rotation program.
    Students Blair Deal and Trent Davis look over a patient’s chart with LPN Candy Burgess at Georgia Mountains Health. The two students are juniors at Fannin County High School and are a part of the General Medicine class’ clinical rotation program.
  • Blair Deal, left, and Trent Davis, obscured, watch as Tina Jolly of Georgia Mountains Health shows them the proper procedure on preliminary care for example patient Theresa Starnes.
    Blair Deal, left, and Trent Davis, obscured, watch as Tina Jolly of Georgia Mountains Health shows them the proper procedure on preliminary care for example patient Theresa Starnes.
  • Fannin County High School juniors Trent Davis and Blair Deal are shown by Candy Hill how to prep a patient to draw blood. The example patient is Stephanie Torres, a staff member at Georgia Mountains Health. This was an exercise for the general medicine students in their clinical rotation at the facility.
    Fannin County High School juniors Trent Davis and Blair Deal are shown by Candy Hill how to prep a patient to draw blood. The example patient is Stephanie Torres, a staff member at Georgia Mountains Health. This was an exercise for the general medicine students in their clinical rotation at the facility.

    “This clinical rotation program shows us the reality of working in the healthcare field,” said Blair Deal, one of the many healthcare students at Fannin County High School.

    Fannin County High School has partnered with a number of local healthcare facilities to bring a new program to the school’s General Medicine class. The program allows two students each week to visit one of the area’s local health related facilities and shadow healthcare professionals. The students get to spend roughly an hour a week gaining practical experience  and observing those in the healthcare field.

    Fannin County High School juniors Deal and Trent Davis were at Georgia Mountains Health  for their rotation last Thursday.

    “This really gives us hands on experience, and I still definitely want to pursue a career in healthcare,” Davis said.

    The program is designed to help prepare healthcare students for the workforce, whether they choose to pursue a degree in the field or not.

    Steve Miracle, CEO of Georgia Mountains Health said “We are trying to give these students the practical experience they’ll need for their chosen flavor of healthcare.” He said that as an organization, they aren’t always looking for college degrees in the field, and that this shows the students that there are “a lot of careers in this industry.”

    In addition to Georgia Mountains Health, Fannin County High School  has partnered with BenchMark Physical Therapy, Southern Drug Company Pharmacy, Smile Blue Ridge, Family Life Chiropractic, and Fannin EMS Station 1.

    Jeremy King, head athletic trainer and healthcare science teacher at Fannin High, said, “Our local industry partners have been amazing at taking time to teach our students andshow them how their facilities serve our community.

    “We are incredibly thankful for their partnerships and trust in our students. It has been an eye opening experience for our students and we are only in our second week...My hope is that the success from these partnerships continue to create more opportunities for our students in the future,” King said.

    Chief Academic Officer of Fannin County School System Dr. Lucas Roof said, “Going into the 2021-2022 school year, Mr. King and I knew that we needed to better prepare our healthcare students with even more real-world opportunities.  Therefore, we decided to start our General Medicine pathway with the idea of focusing on clinical rotations for our students at various healthcare facilities within our community.

    “Getting this pathway started and getting these clinical rotations started was not an easy process, and I am extremely proud of how hard Mr. King has worked over the past two years to form community partnerships and provide these clinical rotation opportunities to our students,” Roof concluded.