Children First: Teen Healthcare Career Fair at Valley Children's Hospital

MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) -- High school students across the Valley are getting to explore what career opportunities are available for them.

This is the first year since the pandemic that Valley Children's has held its Teen Healthcare Career Fair.

"Hopefully, this will help them know that there's not just doctors and nurses that work within a hospital, but there are many different fields that they can go into ones that they may have never heard of before," says Valley Children's Child Life Specialist, Erika Reinhold.

While nurses and doctors play a crucial role in keeping Valley Children's healthy, Reinhold says other departments are just as important.

Valley Children's Information Technology department is looking toward the younger generation, which already has many of the skills required to work in IT.

As technology continues to advance in the hospital, there will also always be a need for IT employees.

"Everybody's dependent on technology these days, and you don't know how dependent you're on technology until it breaks," says Manager of User Technology, Robert Hernandez. "That's where we come in. We're kind of silent in the background."

IT is one of many departments at Valley Children's that doesn't require an advanced degree.

"I myself, started with an associate's degree," Hernandez said. "I went right out of high school because I wanted to start, and so I I started working in my career in IT at age 20."

Hernandez says certifications are just as useful.

"Get certifications in specific things like hardware, software, networking, security," he said. "Those can help as well. In addition to that, I would say some type of experience is good, whether it's self-taught and helping family or taking internships."

Clovis High Freshman Alyssa Ramirez stopped by the IT booth during the career fair. She says it's a field she could see herself pursue.

Reinhold says it's not uncommon to see students from the career fair become volunteers at Valley Children's.

Some even get opportunities to shadow employees.

Valley Children's hope is they continue on this path and choose to stay with the healthcare facility.

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