With career readiness in mind, the East Hampton School District is hoping to add a new clinical medical assistant program to its high school offerings.
“We have seen tremendous success in culinary and automotive,” Sara Smith, the high school principal, said at a March 4 school board meeting. “We would love to add a medical assistant program as well.”
The district works with the Board of Cooperative Educational Services to provide access to the culinary and automotive programs.
The clinical medical assistant program, according to the BOCES website, allows students to “play a critical role in the daily operations of doctors’ offices, clinics, and health care facilities.”
Ms. Smith said she had gone on a site visit on March 4 to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where Southampton High School runs its program. East Hampton could partner with the hospital, or students may be able to work at the hospital’s new satellite emergency department opening later this spring on Pantigo Place in East Hampton. They wouldn’t have the benefit of being able to walk from the high school to the hospital, as Southampton students do, but Ms. Smith is hopeful that this program could begin a “beautiful relationship” with the new emergency center.
The full logistics of such a program are still being worked out, Ms. Smith said. “We are committed to the program ultimately being here,” she said, “whether or not we’re able to do that next year or the following year.”
The program, she said, requires little overhead. In this year’s budget proposal, she marked down only $5,000 “for materials and supplies, or field trips or guest speakers.”
Christina DeSanti, the board’s vice president, was curious about where the students would spend their time. “Is it classroom time and then rounds at the emergency room?” she asked.
“It’s technically separate,” Ms. Smith responded, “but I think we all know that those work best when they’re integrated and the students are actually doing it.”
Ms. Smith also spoke to the board about additions to the school’s automotive program, namely adding lift training and updating the diagnostic machines. Students also requested a smoke machine, “not to be confused with a fog machine,” Ms. Smith said, “I learned the hard way.” Students can use the smoke machine to test for leaks in a vehicle’s emissions system, allowing them to go more in depth when doing car inspections.