Health care workers are always in demand in our region.

Local hospitals and clinics need people to take care of the patients, maintain the medical records and even keep up the buildings where people meet their care providers. The continuous challenge is finding the qualified people to fill all those positions.

UnityPoint Health — Fort Dodge has created a way to get young people interested in medically-related careers. And the organization already has evidence that its initiative is paying off.

In 2024, UnityPoint Health — Fort Dodge began a summer internship program for high school students, high school graduates and college students. The program, which has two sessions each summer, is designed to provide an introduction to basically every kind of medical-related job.

The program has two components. There is a clinical component, which is about patient care. Interns in this part of the program can experience the emergency room, dietitian and diabetes center, inpatient nursing, occupational and physical therapy, family medicine, specialty clinics, and cardiac rehabilitation.

There is also a non-clinical component, which provides a peek into all the behind the scenes operations that make patient care possible. It includes administration, health information, human resources, information technology, maintenance, marketing and communications, nutritional services and social work/patient advocacy.

Obviously, no intern can do all of those things in a summer, so students accepted into the program will have to pick the clinical or non-clinical component.

Requirements for getting into the program are pretty straight forward. A potential intern has to be at least 16 years old. They must be a junior or senior in high school, a college student or a non-traditional student.

They must submit a resume, and at least one letter of recommendation. They must also sit for an interview with UnityPoint Health representatives.

The program has already produced results. UnityPoint leaders reported that several graduates of the program have returned to work for the organization.

We give the staff of UnityPoint Health credit for creating an innovative way to help meet the endless need for more people to work in the health care field. Health care jobs will never go away, and it seems likely that even more people will be needed in medical fields in the future.

We also encourage area students who may have even the slightest interest in a health career to apply for this internship program. Participating in it could be the first step to a long and rewarding career.