Mat-Su students learn about side of healthcare often overlooked, especially here in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Students from Houston High School spent the day on the slopes of Skeetawk Ski Area Friday, but didn’t bring any boards or poles with them. Instead, they took a lesson with the hill’s ski patrol on a distinct aspect of the medical field.

“When they come into my program they think medical is only a nurse and only a doctor,” MaryCatherine Harmon, a health science Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher for the school said. “In Alaska, there’s so much more to the medical field than just being a standard clinic nurse [or] standard clinic doctor — and so one of our goals is to really work with community partners and say, ‘Hey, can we bring our students and show off what you guys do and how you serve our community?’”

After getting the idea to take a field trip to a ski slope, Harmon reached out to Skeetawk’s general manager Megan Justus.

“Skeetawk’s mission statement, which is to develop and maintain a regional alpine ski area in Hatcher Pass to promote safe outdoor recreation, education, [and] healthy lifestyles, it’s a lot of words, but that education aspect of it it is really important and near and dear to our heart,” Justus said.

Justus was immediately on board with the idea and asked pro ski patroller Nathan Vertel to come up with a curriculum and lead the field trip.

The day started inside the area’s yurt with Vertel introducing the teenagers to various equipment ski patrollers use while managing emergencies that come up on the ski hill. After a brief break, the students put their snow gear on and spent the rest of the day outside, studying the mechanics of a rescue toboggan, splinting a body part using various materials and asking every question they could come up with.

For senior Magnolia Lo, it was training that was tailored to the field she’d like to be in one day.

“I want to be an athletic trainer,” Lo said. “I love sports and I love the medical field, so it’s just like the best of both worlds.”

The CTE program — offered by the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District — allows students to take courses in fields such as construction, aviation, business, human services, natural resources, culinary arts and transportation. Students who enroll are provided an opportunity to customize their high school education, helping to give them an idea of what they’ll pursue after graduation.

According to Harmon, the students who explore the healthcare sector from freshman to senior year can earn tangible certifications and “micro-credentials,” such as CPR, blood-borne pathogens and traumatic blood loss prevention.

“They also have the opportunity their senior year, they can take an EKG tech class where they will get trained on how to use an EKG,” Harmon said. “They will sit for their national board certifications all while they’re in high school and so that when they walk across that stage as a senior, they can go into any hospital and say, ‘Hey, I’m a nationally certified EKG tech’ and apply for jobs.”

It’s a unique, hands-on experience only made possible by industry partnerships with organizations such as Skeetawk, hosting educational training sessions so students can explore every corner of the career field they’re interested in.

“It’s so important in Alaska specifically, because we have so much remote wilderness,” Justus said. “There’s so many avenues to use outdoor emergency response in Alaska, so it’s really cool that those kids are getting the opportunity to learn about it so young.”

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