MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital Partners with Mercy High School to Give Students Hands-On Healthcare Experience

BALTIMORE, MD—(February 9, 2018)—MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital and Mercy High School in Baltimore finalized a partnership Wednesday that will allow students to test drive a new career in medicine.

Students in the program, called the Sister Agnese Neumann Scholars Program in Partnership with MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, will work with a mentor in a specialty they choose: aging science, occupational/physical therapy, nursing, or community/public health. They will receive hands-on training and learn skills including CPR, patient safety training and infection prevention.

“MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital believes in the importance in creating pathways for opportunities for people in our community,” said Ryan Moran, the director of community health for MedStar Health in Baltimore City. “We know that this begins at an early age, and it is vital to get young people interested in health careers. We are proud to partner with Mercy High School to offer exposure to a range of health care careers. We hope that many of them will not only take an interest in becoming health providers, but consider MedStar Good Samaritan as a place of employment one day.”

The program spans three academic years, plus one summer, and is open to freshmen and rising sophomores. In the first year, students are exposed to different disciplines, including aging science, occupational/physical therapy, nursing, and community/public health. They are also given skills training, including first responder training.

In the second year, students receive more skills training and are required to attend at least six of MedStar Good Samaritan’s professional development sessions focused on cutting-edge topics in health care. In the third year, students work with a mentor in their specialty area of focus, to construct an internship that they will complete that summer.

“We expect that our Sister Agnese Neumann Scholars will become future leaders in healthcare,” says Mary Beth Lennon, president of Mercy High School. “Our new partnership with MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital allows us to respond to the strong demand for rigorous academic programs in the STEM fields. With four STEM programs offered in our state-of-the-art Dorothy Williams Bunting Science Center, Mercy High School stands as a leader in STEM education for girls in Maryland.”

Ten students will be selected for the inaugural cohort of the Sister Agnese Neumann Scholars Program. To qualify, students must have received top scores on their High School Placement Test, have earned excellent grades in mathematics and science subjects in middle school, and have written an essay on a medical or scientific advancement from the last 200 years. Mercy High School administrators have already begun reviewing applications.

The program’s name honors the first chair of Mercy’s science department, Sister Agnese Neumann, RSM, who went on a career as a nurse practitioner. She continues to be actively involved as a volunteer at Mercy.

About MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital

MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital is a 287-bed community teaching facility located at the corner of Loch Raven Boulevard and Belvedere Avenue in northeast Baltimore, with more than 130,000 patient visits annually. With Centers of Excellence in orthopaedics, rheumatology, rehabilitation, burn reconstruction, and renal care, as well as a certified Stroke Center and winner of the Delmarva Foundation Excellence Award for Quality Improvement for four years in a row, MedStar Good Samaritan serves people throughout Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic and internationally in these advanced specialties. MedStar Good Samaritan is part of MedStar Health, a not-for-profit, regional health care system with 10 hospitals and more than 20 other health-related services in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., region.

About Mercy High School

Located on a 26-acre campus, Mercy High School provides a rigorous Catholic, college-preparatory education to bright and promising girls from more than 64 zip codes in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Mercy prepares girls to lead and to excel in a dynamic global society. Our highly individualized approach to a college-preparatory program challenges each Mercy Girl to become a young woman of intellect, faith, and service. Mercy is sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and is accredited by the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS).