GLOW Healthcare

Press Release:

GLOW With Your Hands organizers are seeking additional volunteers to support the coordination of the third annual GLOW With Your Hands: Healthcare on March 17. More than 650 students from Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming counties will learn first-hand about exciting career opportunities in the healthcare sector by meeting representatives and professionals from a variety of healthcare organizations, careers, and training programs.

Organizations such as M&T Bank and students from the Genesee Valley BOCES Health Career Academy have signed up for this year’s healthcare event, assisting as tour guides, lunch helpers, and an extra set of hands for GLOW With Your Hands committee members. Event organizers emphasized that these career exploration events are made possible thanks to the generosity of local organizations and individuals who dedicate their time to support local youth.

“It’s a tremendous testament to the success of this annual career exploration day that we have over 650 students attending, but at the same time, it takes a lot of volunteers to manage so many exuberant youths in one place,” said GLOW With Your Hands Co-Chair Karyn Winters said. “We are fortunate to have volunteers already registered, but we need more to cover all our bases.”

Representatives from hospitals and health systems and professionals in nursing, mental health, social services, and emergency responders will be on hand to interact with students to discuss potential careers and pathways into their respective fields.  While some careers might begin immediately after high school, the students will also be able to explore educational pathways in the healthcare sector through BOCES and degrees available at local colleges and universities.

“The day after the event ends, we start to plan the next day for the event the following year which includes making sure our volunteers had the type of experience to help us again,” said Angela Grouse, GLOW With Your Hands Co-Chair. “We are so fortunate that most of our volunteers come back year after year, but you can never have enough!”

Registration for volunteers is available by emailing Karyn Winters at kwinters@geneseeny.com or filling out the volunteer form at https://www.glowwithyourhands.com/healthcarevolunteers.

Of the 235 representatives from various areas in the healthcare field at a four-county event, student Rylee Serusa-Herndon connected with someone in particular during her visit with BOCES Health Dimensions classmates to Genesee Community College Friday.

“I came to the GLOW With Your Hands field trip to be a neurosurgeon, I’m interested in that, and I came to kind of understand, to know what I have to do to be able to be that,” she said. “I did go to a booth, and one of the girls was actually a neurosurgeon, and she told me it is very difficult; you have to do a lot of schooling. But she said ‘you know, there’s not many girl neurosurgeons,’ and that kind helped me out. I definitely want to do it.”

Rylee was one of more than 500 students in grades eight through 12 from 31 schools in Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming counties. The event was to help connect interested students to a couple hundred representatives from 57 companies, municipal agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions and further excite, educate, and empower them to seek success in the healthcare field of study after high school.

Educational providers and employers were on hand to demonstrate in the fields of emergency medical services, healthy living, healthcare, nursing, occupational and physical therapy, pharmacy, and the various sciences.

There were mannequins stationed so that students could get some CPR lessons, a physical therapy demonstration, and a virtual reality program to offer more high-tech ways to explore careers, “which is cool,” said Chris Suozzi, Vice President of Workforce Development for Genesee County Economic Development Center. 

“The whole reason that we do these events and career exploration in high school is so kids can really expand their horizons. It's so difficult for someone to really know what they want to do for a career. It's taken me 30-some years to figure out what I wanted to do … but for kids, the more they see the, the better. So they're seeing careers that they would never see in a classroom and in a textbook,” Suozzi said. “And then there's careers that they may look at and say, ‘Oh, I definitely don't want to do that.' And I know it's a good thing. But when you look at the opportunities for what are possibilities, it's almost endless here. 

“So, you know, when you hear about healthcare, you think a doctor or nurse, but then when you look here, there's a lot more than doctors and nurses,” he said. “There's all these technicians and EMTs, physical therapy, and the list goes on and on. So that's the whole idea. Explore their mind, explore opportunities for a great career.”

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