Poised and self-assured, Hannah Bond, 21 and Lauren Cutburth, 19, know exactly what they want to do with their lives, and they’re already starting to do it at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance.
Both first came to the hospital in high school, where they participated in school-hospital programs for nursing and pharmacy in the Keller school district. Today, they are both pharmacy technicians. Hannah is working her way through pharmacy school, and Lauren is taking her Tarrant County College prerequisites for nursing school.
“After meeting everybody I just fell in love with it,” said Hannah, who had originally planned to become a nurse practitioner but switched to pharmacy after her exposure to it at Texas Health Alliance. “Just the entire environment, the people were great. The culture at Texas Health is great.”
She added, “I got to go scrub into the sterile compounding lab and I thought it was fascinating.”
Now in pharmacy school
She worked full time at the hospital pharmacy while going to class at Tarrant County College, getting prerequisites out of the way before pharmacy school.
Now she’s cut back on her hours so she can focus on her studies. Her immediate goal: To complete four years of pharmacy school without using any student loans.
Lauren knew in high school that she wanted to be a nurse.
“I’ve known for so many years that I wanted to be a nurse,” she said. “I like to help people a lot. We always need nurses and they really help people.”
But she chose the pharmacy tech program in high school rather than an available Certified Nursing Assistant program – which Hannah actually participated in – because she wanted to stand out among nursing students.
“I thought it would give me an advantage to know how the pharmacy runs,” Lauren said. She also is working part-time now while she works on her prerequisites.
‘Really talented’
Both Hannah and Lauren are “very professional and really talented,” said Nolan Martin, director of pharmacy at Texas Health Alliance.
Some 350-400 high school students like Hannah and Lauren used to be come through the hospital each year, shadowing clinicians and others in various parts of the hospital. The students are part of education collaboratives that Texas Health Alliance has with four school districts.
In the pharmacy, Martin said, there are usually one or two every Friday during the school year.
“They learn the daily operations of pharmacy and how it positively impacts our patients each day,” he said.
Many of the students in the pharmacy come from the Keller Center for Advance Learning, Martin said, where students frequently graduate with certifications they need to enter the work force – and with experience at hospitals including Texas Health Alliance.
The educations programs have been a win for the hospital — and for students like Hannah and Lauren, Martin said.
“Both of them have a strong foundation and a bright future here,” he said. The collaboration is good for the students – and for Texas Health Alliance patients.
Pictured: Lauren Cutburth and Hannah Bond got a jump-start on their careers at Texas Health Alliance.
by Judy Wiley • Posted February 12, 2019