On Nov. 6, the ETHS chapter of HOSA—Future Health Professionals, or Health Occupations for Students of America — had its first club meeting. 

According to the HOSA website, HOSA is an international student organization whose mission is to “promote career opportunities in the healthcare industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people.” 

Juniors Lucia Goldberg, Emily Hauser, Sofia Hletko, Emily Ho and Ana Sweeney are the co-presidents of the ETHS chapter of HOSA, and the sponsor is anatomy teacher Sheila Skweres.

“I was surprised ETHS didn’t have something like it yet,” Sweeney said. “Since there’s such a widespread interest in health care and HOSA covers so many different areas, I thought it would be really cool to bring to ETHS.”

The club has received an enthusiastic response from students so far with their meetings having an average attendance of around 25.

“I wanted to come to the club because I’m interested in a career in the medical field and thought this club would be a perfect fit for me,” junior and club member Halle Hall-Latchman said. “I’m looking to gain some more knowledge and skills that have to do with the medical field.”

Students from HOSA chapters all across the world compete against each other in medical-related events such as medical terminology, medical law and ethics and sports medicine that they’ve been prepping for all year; however, the ETHS chapter won’t be participating in these competitions until next school year.

“This year, we’re getting everyone to get experience in all the different events and open their horizons to different areas of healthcare,” Sweeney said. “Next year will be more competition focused.”

The club meetings switch off between big group days, where they do activities such as suturing bananas and learning how to wrap injured ankles, and event-specific days, where members have the chance to learn about the HOSA competition topics; a few of the topics the club has covered thus far are home health aid, biomedical debates, and medical terminology.

“I really enjoyed doing sutures and taping ankles. I am looking to expand my curiosity and gain some insight into the medical field” sophomore Kate Schepke said.

HOSA also aims to give a realistic sense of what it is like to be in the medical field.

“As of right now I think the purpose of the club is to learn a lot about what we like,” Hletko said. “A lot of us hear ‘doctor’ and think ‘oh cool, I want to be on Grey’s Anatomy’, but part of the awesomeness of HOSA is you learn about all the different things you can do.”

Next semester, they are hoping to get more guest speakers and job shadowing opportunities for club members as well as continuing the more hands-on activities they are doing now.

“We want to get a lot of people interested in the club. I don’t think a lot of people really understand what the club is about, and getting people to come is a big goal this year,” Hletko said.

The club meets every Wednesday after school in H308 and is open to anyone.

“HOSA is a great opportunity for students who are interested in health care,” Sweeney said.