Summer Campbell-Kern Valley Sun

Several community members and high school students filled the Kern Valley Hospital cafeteria Friday morning to launch what will hopefully be an exciting medical career for many Kern Valley High School ECHO students. ECHO stands for Exploring Careers in Health Occupations and is a program that prepares high school students for careers in the medical field.

The ECHO program was established nine years ago when Bob Dreiling was principal of KVHS and Bob Knight was the CEO of the hospital. Knight and Dreiling desired to create a program that would not only unite the hospital and the local high school but that would also encourage students to succeed in the health care field. Kern Valley Hospital public relations coordinator, Jeanette Rogers praised the ECHO program saying ' It is a really great program because you literally walk out of high school job ready with a job lined up.'

ECHO student Star Fleet (right) leads a tour along with ECHO program director Vicki Stacy (left) at the Kern Valley Hospital on Friday.

The purpose of Friday's meeting was to give the incoming ECHO class an idea of how the community and the high school work together to insure the program's success explained Rogers. Several local community members were invited to the ECHO gathering to introduce themselves and share a bit of wisdom.

Each community member was asked to stand and give a short speech. Brian Polston pastor of Family Life Center offered his support saying 'I love people, but teenagers are my favorite, and I want you to know that I believe in each one of you.' Other community members in attendance included John Pair representing the Kernville Union School District and Family Resource Center, Cody Preston representing Sierra Gateway Markets, Sherry Depperman the Director of Nursing for Kern Valley Hospital, and representatives from the South Fork Women's Club. Retired teacher and current activities director for the Kernville Union School District, John Pair spoke to the students saying 'Many of you have been my students in the past, and one of the most exciting parts of being a teacher is getting to see you succeed.' ECHO head teacher and former director Tom Cormack also gave a short presentation on the ECHO program for the community leaders. ' It is hard work, nothing in life comes free, but it is an opportunity not very many get.' remarked Cormack

Students are given the opportunity to join ECHO their sophomore year in high school, as a part of the program the students take classes that are geared towards the health care field. Students in the program complete four courses a year that are specifically designed to provide them with the knowledge needed to be successful in a career in the medical field. 'The students take classes as a family, they bond like a family and fight like a family,' explained Cormack. When ECHO students reach their senior year they have the opportunity to take classes at Cerro Coso. The CNA class is the most popular and many students receive their CNA license before even graduating.

ECHO student Tiffany Allan said 'I think ECHO is great, I want to be an EMT and I will graduate with the skills I need.' Allan desires to be an EMT because she enjoys helping people and thought that the medical field would be the best way to fulfill these desires. While Allan fears that it is going to be difficult dealing with the stress of saving people's lives she feels she will get experience through the ECHO program that will make her capable of handling whatever comes her way.

After the introduction portion of the meeting the students and community leaders were divided into groups and lead on a tour through the hospital. The students had the opportunity to view all the hospital departments and see if they were drawn to a particular department, if they found that they were interested in a individual department they can request to be placed in that department when it is time for them to start job shadowing, explained Rogers.

Also dispersed among the touring students was ECHO program director Vicki Stacy, who occasionally stopped to ask the students questions such as 'What does SNF stand for?' After taking the tour of the hospital, sophomore ECHO student Kelsey Corcoran had her mind made up on the department she wanted to spend her time. 'I want to work in the ER because that is where all the exciting stuff happens.' said Corcoran.

With the admittance of a whole new ECHO class for the 2007-2008 school year Cormack, Stacy, Kern Valley Hospital Staff and many community leaders are standing behind these students planning for their successful futures.