Stony Brook Southampton Hospital will host a clinical medical assistant career and technical education program for high school juniors and seniors, the hospital announced this week.
Run in partnership with the Southampton School District and the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services, the one-year program will help students prepare for employment as clinical medical assistants whose responsibilities range from supporting physicians and nurses to doing patient intake, making appointments, and tracking patients' vital signs.
"The program creates a local pipeline of labor opportunities for our hospital and offsite practices, and provides high school students with an opportunity to enter into a career in the expanding health care arena," Daniel Van Arsdale, director of the medical education program at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, said in a press release.
Through the program's location at Stony Brook Southampton, students will be able to work and learn on site with qualified BOCES instructors, without having to factor in long commutes.
In the press release Leah Arnold, director of career, technical, and adult education at Eastern Suffolk BOCES, expressed her gratitude to Stony Brook Southampton for the opportunities this will give the students.
"Our technical centers are experiencing historic demand, so this allows more students to find their futures in C.T.E., and to find it closer to home," Ms. Arnold said. "This is a model for collaboration between industry, school districts and career and technical education."
East End students interested in enrolling in these and other career and technical programs for the 2025-26 school year should speak with their school counselors for details.