North Springs' Allied Health Pathway Program Expands

Sign up for the Sandy Springs Patch newsletter!

---

With careers in the healthcare field continuing to grow, North Springs Charter High School and its over 200 health science students are excited about the growth and success of their program at the Sandy Springs institution this year.

The school’s popular Allied Health Pathway, one of Fulton County’s Career Technical Education (CTE) programs focused on students being college and career ready, is expanding.

Students have two newer larger classrooms, a new teacher with a radiology specialty, and a new opportunity to become, while in high school, a certified clinical medical assistant, a distinction just received by three former classmates - the first in Georgia to do so.

On top of this, North Springs plans to add a future Diagnostic Imaging Pathway, two additional certifications in Phlebotomy and EKG, and is seeing its successful HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) Club mentor a new Junior HOSA Club at Sandy Springs Middle School.

HOSA, the national student organization for future health care professionals, has over 150 members at North Springs and annually sends students to state and national competition.

This spring, 65 students competed at the state level, and this summer, two of them, Madhu Baskaran and Danielle Lampert, became national finalists.

Additionally, according to health science teacher and HOSA sponsor, R.N. Paulette Diener, “Madhu, Danielle, and Anna Deutsch are the first high school students in Georgia to pass the CCMA certification test,” a testament to the preparation they received in the program.

Soon to be college freshmen, all three intend to pursue medical careers.

North Springs’ Allied Health Pathway program is a sequence of three courses which provide challenging academics and specialized clinical skills ending with the certification exams. In the fourth year, students gain relevant on-the-job experience through medical internships. HOSA complements and enriches the classroom experience.

“We are thrilled to be growing like this and are especially excited about the Junior HOSA program for middle school,” Diener said. “This will strengthen students’ sense of accomplishment and confidence as they develop themselves for their future in health care, and will only strengthen the already strong HOSA program we have at North Springs.”

---

Photo 1: Health science students in Paulette Diener’s advanced third year Allied Health and Medicine class are excited about their program’s expanding opportunities and will be preparing to take the new Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) certification at the end of the year. The CCMA covers administrative and clinical skills needed in both the front and back office. Three NSCHS students were the first in the state to pass the new exam.
Photo 2: Sophia Catchings, recently a full-time radiologist at Grady Hospital, is enthusiastic to teach the first pathway course, Introduction to Health Care Science at NSCHS and mentor newly elected HOSA class president Alex Kwasha and vice president Taliyah Johnson. Both freshmen are looking forward to a future career in the medical field and will represent their class in North Springs’ larger HOSA organization.
Photo credits: North Springs Charter High School