Northwoods students get hands-on look at healthcare careers 

A career exploration event held last week at Aspirus Rhinelander Hospital gave dozens of high school students from across the region a firsthand look at the wide range of careers available in healthcare — from labor and delivery nursing to radiology to emergency medicine. Now in its third year, the event was organized by Julie Williams, Director of Nursing at Aspirus Eagle River Hospital.

"In my previous position, I was a dean of nursing for a university," Williams said. "When I came here and took a director of nursing job, they were looking for somebody to build the collaboration we have between Nicolet and our local colleges."

The format gives students 15 minutes at each station, where they speak directly with working healthcare professionals and get a feel for what the job actually looks like day-to-day — not the dramatized version familiar from television.

"It's not like (the HBO TV series) ‘The Pitt’, or all of those shows," Williams said. "These are actual nurses who are in the field — and it's more than nursing. We are represented by many different career professions in healthcare."

Booths this year included radiology, obstetrics, wound care, surgery, respiratory therapy, EMS, emergency room nursing, med-surge, ICU, and a Career Services table staffed by Aspirus's talent recruitment team. Nicolet College also had a presence at the event.

Ten school districts were invited this year. The participating districts included Rhinelander, Three Lakes, Tomahawk, Elcho, Phelps, Lakeland, Union, and Pines.

For students from smaller surrounding communities, the event offers a rare opportunity to explore a broad range of healthcare careers in one place, and to learn that a pathway into those careers can begin close to home at Nicolet College.

Lexie Allen, college and career counselor at Rhinelander High School, said she first brought the idea to Aspirus three years ago after seeing a similar event in the Green Bay area — and finding that her district was too far away to participate in that one.

"We asked if we could do something here," Allen said. "Since that time, I think the interest in just having these hands-on simulations, seeing different departments — because when you think medical, it's always like doctor, nurse — they don't see all of the different departments."

Allen said the event has had a measurable impact on student interest in healthcare careers. Her school district is now offering a CNA program starting next year, driven in part by consistent student interest coming out of events like this one.

"We've had two students the last two years consistently do the CNA work," she said. "We're offering it in our high school now, starting next year, just because of all of these different things — and we're up to 22 students."

For Williams, the event is part of a broader strategy to build a local healthcare workforce pipeline in a region that faces the dual challenge of an aging population and the difficulty of attracting workers to rural areas.

"I try to attend as many career fairs as I can," she said, noting she has also spoken at events in the Crandon school district and participated in a "Live from the Heart" event organized in partnership with Nicolet College and a Chicago hospital, where students watched a live open-heart surgery before a panel of healthcare professionals took questions.

That event, held in February, produced a tangible result: two students who attended reached out to Williams afterward, completed a CNA program, and have since been hired on for the summer.

"They found interest in that," Williams said. "They took the CNA program, they're almost finished, and I've hired them for summer."

Aspirus also works to support employees who want to pursue further education, helping to build schedules that allow staff to work while attending school — with the hope of retaining them long-term as CNAs, LPNs, or registered nurses. Williams also sits on the advisory board at Nicolet College, giving her a seat at the table when it comes to shaping curriculum and identifying which hospital units can best accommodate clinical student groups.

For the students themselves, the event offered more than just career information — it offered clarity.

Julie's daughter, Jordan, a 10th grader from Three Lakes, came in with some direction already in mind — she's interested in radiology and is looking at becoming a CNA soon. But having a chance to move through the stations herself, rather than simply reading about healthcare careers, made those interests feel more concrete.

"I'm more interested now that I have the programs that I can take," she said.

Growing up with a mother in nursing has given Jordan some familiarity with the field, but she said her motivation runs deeper than family connection.

"I want to follow in her footsteps," she said. "And I'm interested in helping people."

Her school's guidance counselor made the trip with the Three Lakes students — something Williams noted plays an important role. With a counselor present, students can immediately begin turning what they're seeing into a concrete plan.

Ben Olson, a senior from Rhinelander, came in with broader interests in the health sciences but hadn't fully committed to a direction. The chance to talk directly with working professionals made a strong impression.

"It's really cool to talk with people that actually are in the profession and ask them what it's like day to day — with actual experiences," he said. "Rather than just reading about it."

Two stations stood out to him in particular: orthopedic surgery and respiratory therapy. As an athlete, his interest in orthopedics may not be entirely coincidental.

Olson is among the students who have benefited from an intentional shift in how Rhinelander High School approaches career preparation in the upperclassman years. He said he has taken more field trips as a junior and senior than in all his previous years combined.

"It really opens my eyes to opportunities," he said.

He graduates this spring and will attend UW-La Crosse in the fall.

Allen noted that even when a student walks away deciding a particular career isn't for them, the day has done its job.

"I think it just helps with that career exploration," she said. "And then they might find they don't want to go into something — and that helps too."

Students who want to explore further can connect with Aspirus's Career Services team, which offers job shadowing opportunities at any of the health system's four northern Wisconsin hospitals.