HOSA: For Future Health Professionals

“Health Science and HOSA – A Healthy Partnership!”

Intro to HOSA

Today, during the unexpected Covid-19 pandemic, the world is listening to doctors, nurses, and all healthcare professionals. The world is standing together to respect healthcare professionals as they are true heroes and our busy lives never let us realize that. The world is thanking them and saluting them repeatedly for being there to save humanity despite all odds: lack of PPE and people being ignorant of social distancing or wearing masks.

As millions have got infected and thousands have died, healthcare professionals those healthcare professionals, the majority of them were and still are part of HOSA: a 100% student organization dedicated to the career development of health professionals. In a very brilliant and equally smart strategic way, HOSA works towards a double-sided goal of career development for the health professions and improvement of health services delivery to the general population.

The acronym HOSA was formerly known as Health Occupations Students of America, now, HOSA stands for – Future Health Professionals which is reflective of the vision and futuristic proactive approach of the organization. What is more, HOSA is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Health Science Technology Education.

HOSA has grown steadily from the time it was incorporated in 1976,  HOSA has groomed around 245,000 members since forty-four years. Headquartered in Texas, U.S, HOSA has attracted 900,000 career-minded healthcare students through 54 chartered HOSA Associations, American Samoa, Canada, District of Columbia, Germany, Italy, and Puerto Rico.

In true sense, HOSA is an international career and technical student organization dedicated to healthcare professionals. HOSA is famous for a unique program of leadership development, motivation, and recognition for the students.

HOSA has a mission:

“To enhance the delivery of compassionate, quality health care by providing opportunities for knowledge, skill and leadership development of all health occupations students; therefore, helping the students to meet the needs of the health care community.”

But, the mission of HOSA is particularly critical in the wake of the acute shortage of qualified workers for the healthcare industry. There have been pandemics, namely in the recent and past decade – SARS, MERS, H1N1, and now, Covid-19. And epidemiologists have warned there will be more pandemics in the near future. Current time has taught us, there is a dire surging need for healthcare professionals. Henceforth, dear high schoolers aka dear future healthcare professionals and parents, we at AdmissionSight believe you need to be part of HOSA, an organization that will help your career take off as the world needs you more than ever.

Chapters And Membership

Sometimes students have the misconception that HOSA is just a club in which a few students in the school join. Yes, there are lots of clubs in schools and a student or a guiding parent has a time crunch and a challenging comparative decision to make – which one to leave and which one to join. We at AdmissionSight want the students and parents to know that HOSA is not only a club. HOSA is a tool, a powerful instructional tool and this very powerful instructional tool works wonders when it is integrated into the HSE and health science-related curriculum and classroom.

Healthcare systems transform extremely fast, henceforth, generating a growing requirement for the dedicated workers who besides their technical skills, are empathetic, compassionate, people-oriented, and capable of playing a leadership or team player role as a member of the healthcare team.

We at AdmissionSight know that as an instructional program HOSA membership prepares high school students for a step by step healthcare career.

Why Should High School Students Join HOSA?

The answer is – Why not?

If you do not want to believe, here is the list of advantages that a high schooler should join HOSA –

1. For the sake of career preparation and to make a realistic career goal.
2. For the unique skill-building and enhancement of the very skills.
3. To build self-esteem and boost morale.
4. To communicate more effectively.
5. To develop enthusiasm and maintain the motivation up and soaring.
6. For leadership development so as to be a true leader.
7. To make more friends and networking.
8. For lots and lots of service opportunities and interaction with health care and community professionals.
9. For connecting with mentors and advisors.
10. To develop workplace readiness skills.
11. To be flexible for inevitable career changes.

As A Student How to Be Part Of A HOSA Chapter?

There can be three scenarios – your school has a HOSA chapter, your school doesn’t have a HOSA chapter. In the latter case, your school can have a healthcare program or not. So, how a high school student is going to be part of HOSA. Let us see the three scenarios:

If your school has a HOSA chapter

So it’s simple. Your school has a HOSA chapter and you wish to join. Just contact the chapter advisor and obtain membership information. If you are not enrolled in the health occupations/health science program but you wish to join an existing HOSA chapter you may join the chapter as an associate member.

If your school has a health science program but no HOSA chapter

Take the lead. Just talk to the health career program instructor about starting a HOSA chapter.

If you are at a college or university that does not offer HOSA

You can find a group of healthcare majors and organize a HOSA chapter. You will want to follow the rules of your school in starting a new club or service organization. You will also need a faculty member to agree to serve as your chapter advisor.

At AdmissionSight we believe a student can do whatever it takes to be a member of HOSA. So, whatever is the case you would need a teacher to mentor you, and you should have a truckload of fundraisers before the competition season starts. So it’s a good idea to get the HOSA club founded in late July or start August, Also, please do have a couple of your friends and ask around to see if more students and parents are interested. Kindly do ensure that you have a board with a president. If you want you can make yourself the president. After that, start fundraising, so you can go to the state if you need to and if you plan to go to regionals as a school.

Generally, around 165,000 students across the country participate in HOSA activities through its 3,000 chapters. This means a great sizable portion of the nation’s future health professions workforce are members of HOSA. Over 90% of students continue pursuing their dream career path to be a healthcare professional, after high school.

HOSA members have uniforms and three color codes as follows:

1. Navy Blue color to reflect loyalty to the Healthcare Profession.
2. Medical White color reflects the purity of purpose.
3. Maroon color reflects the compassion of HOSA Members.

Competitive Events Program

They are just so lit. There are a plethora of vlogs to have an insider look into these colorful events. The number of events has grown over the years and so does the competition – it has grown to be a tall order.

Currently, there are 58 competitive events offered by HOSA, ranging from skill-based to leadership and team-based. These competitions are held at the regional, state, and international levels. They help students in learning while having fun. These events are organized in collaboration with healthcare organizations and qualified healthcare professionals. Hence, a student gets to meet and interact with them. This is helpful in terms of career path and job opportunity and internships

Health Science Events:

Dental Terminology, Medical Spelling, Medical Terminology, Medical Math, Medical Reading

Health Professions Events: 

Biomedical Laboratory Science, Clinical Nursing, Clinical Specialty, Dental Science, Home Health Aide, Medical Assisting, Medical Assisting Fillable Form – Skill II, Medical Assisting Fillable Form – Skill III, Nursing Assisting, Personal Care*, Pharmacy Science, Physical Therapy, Sports Medicine, Veterinary Science, Emergency Preparedness Events, CERT Skills, CPR/First Aid, Emergency Medical Technician, Epidemiology, Life Support Skills, MRC Partnership, Public Health.

Leadership Events: 

Extemporaneous Health Poster, Extemporaneous Writing, Health Career Photography, Healthy Lifestyle, Interviewing Skills, Job Seeking Skills, Prepared Speaking, Researched Persuasive Writing and Speaking, Speaking Skills, Teamwork Events, Biomedical Debate, BD Contact Cards, Community Awareness, Creative Problem Solving, Forensic Science, Health Career Display, Health Education, HOSA Bowl, HB Contact Cards, Existing Medical Innovation, Original Medical Innovation, Parliamentary Procedure, Public Service Announcement.

Recognition Events: 

Barbara James Service Award, HOSA Happenings, Healthcare Issues Exam, HOSA Service Project, Outstanding HOSA Achievement, Outstanding HOSA Chapter Middle School, Outstanding HOSA Chapter Secondary and Postsecondary / Collegiate, HOSA Week Proclamation, HOSA Week Ideas, Outstanding HOSA Leader, MRC Volunteer Recognition.

HOSA Internship

A majority of the leading healthcare corporations provide internships to the high school students who are enrolled members of HOSA.

Here is a list of few organizations:

1. American Diabetes Association – Internship
2. Bristol-Myers Squibb
3. Cardinal Health Internship & EMERGE Programs
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Museum Disease Detective Camp
5. CVS Health Internships
6. Global Pre-Meds Doctor Shadowing
7. GlaxoSmithKline Undergraduate Internship Program
8. Howard University Health Sciences High School Summer Academy
9. Johnson & Johnson
10. Mayo Clinic Internships
11. NACCHO Internship Program
12. National Institute of Health – Summer Internship
13. Nursing Internships for High School Students
14. Penn Medicine Summer Program for High School Students
15. Pfizer Summer Internship Program
16. Stanford Medicine: High School & Undergraduate Programs for those preparing for a future in medicine or science.
17. Summer Child Health Research Internship
18. The Center of Excellence High School Summer Enrichment Science Academy (HSSESA)

Scholarships

As already mentioned HOSA has partnered with the leading corporations – the key player in healthcare services, namely CVS Health and HCA healthcare. After an application process, HOSA and its partners provide scholarships to the students who are HOSA members in a variety of career fields, namely:

1. Audiologist
2. Pharmacist
3. Dentist/Dental Hygienist
4. Nurse/Nurse Specialist
5. Allied Health (numerous occupations)
6. Physical Therapist
7. Doctor/Physician Assistant
8. Public Health
9. Speech Therapist/Speech-Language Pathologist
10. Nuclear Medicine
11. Occupational Therapist
12. Recreational Therapist

In 2019, around 71 students were provided scholarships. The following were the main scholarships provided:

1. Future Health Professionals $2,000 Scholarship
2. Julius Berman Family Scholarship $2,500 Scholarship
3. Many $1000 Scholarships: a few names:
   1. National Geographic Learning | Cengage,
   2. CVS Health,
   3. HCA Healthcare, Encompass Health,
   4. National Consortium of Health Science Education (NCHSE),
   5. National Technical Honor Society (NTHS)

HOSA Creed

Here is the HOSA creed to inspire you.

I BELIEVE

• in the healthcare profession.
• in the profession for which I am being trained and in the opportunities, which my training offers.
• in education.
• that through education I will be able to make the greatest use of my skills, knowledge, and experience in order to become a contributing member of the health care team of my community.
• in myself.
• that by using the knowledge and skills of my profession I will become more aware of myself. Through fulfilling these goals I will become a more responsible citizen.
• that each individual is important in his or her own right; therefore, I will treat each person with respect and love. To this end, I dedicate my training, my skills, and myself to serve others through HOSA.

Life After HOSA

HOSA has been transforming the lives of millions of students for 44 years. There are many stories on the internet you can find. Besides, you must have encountered the word of mouth stories from the HOSA members you have known and got friends with. If you are a parent who is a healthcare professional, of course, you have known and have been a part of HOSA since your young days. And you probably want the same for your children. You can guide them about HOSA. If you are a student who wants to be a healthcare professional, you can be by simply joining a HOSA chapter. Seek a HOSA mentor now, so you can be a HOSA mentor later on. We at AdmissionSight believe in the power of imagination. So dear future student of HOSA, imagine your life after HOSA – you are a healthcare professional, you are a lifesaver and a true leader at the same time, you are saving humans from a life-threatening disease, you are respected and loved by the world. You are most sought after in difficult times. You are witnessing it now during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We at AdmissionSight believe that health professionals are deemed responsible beings. They are in a profession where saving lives is of utmost importance. Saving a life is not easy and it’s a huge responsibility. And as a student, if you choose to be a healthcare professional and HOSA, you help humanity survive and thrive.

We conclude with the motto of HOSA:

“The Hands of Mold the Health of Tomorrow”  

At AdmissionSight, we help students navigate the complex college admissions process. AdmissionSight showcases students on how to strengthen their leadership skills and increase community-service involvement. If you are a concerned parent of a high schooler or a graduate wondering about the future of your child’s education or you are unable to decide about selecting the right college or you are pondering on the right subject for the right career path, please feel free to contact us today.