MedStart
- Free In-School Program
- 1x Monthly Guest Speaker
- Hands-On Activity Each Visit
- Aligns with the school calendar, August through May each academic year.
What You Will Learn
- What a career in health care actually looks like, from professionals who work nearby
- Hands-on skills practiced alongside a visiting health professional
- The range of medical and clinical careers available in your own community
- How local providers built their careers and what training they needed
- Why health care matters to the community you already live in
Who Should Join
- Middle school students curious about medical and clinical careers
- Students in rural or underserved parishes with limited exposure to health careers
- Students who learn best by doing rather than by reading
- Schools looking to build early interest in the health care workforce
- Students who want to see professionals who share their background and culture
Requirements
- Disadvantaged middle school in a rural or underserved parish in Central Louisiana; preference given to schools with large low-income populations and/or high rates of free and reduced lunch
- All students at participating schools must complete an enrollment form prior to program kickoff
- Participating school located in Avoyelles, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, Vernon, or Winn Parish
Explore This Program
Overview
About This Program
MedStart is a free in-school program that gives middle school students the chance to explore the life of a multitude of health career professions by introducing them to a health professional guest speaker and a hands-on activity. The program identifies the barrier of transportation that rural communities face and brings the opportunity directly to students, so they can learn more about options available in their own communities, presented by providers from those same communities.
Why Join This Program?
Impact
MedStart removes the transportation barrier that keeps rural students from health career exploration by bringing professionals into the school itself. Students see medical careers as reachable because the people describing them work just down the road.
Purpose
The purpose of MedStart is to engage school systems and implement initiatives that inspire student interest in medical and clinical fields, by exposing students to health care professionals who look like them and share their cultural backgrounds.
Value
Middle school is early enough for exposure to genuinely change a student's course. MedStart reaches students while high school scheduling, dual enrollment, and career planning decisions are still ahead of them.
Benefits
Students meet a different health professional each month, take part in a hands-on activity at every visit, and build a picture of the health care workforce in their own parish. Participation costs the student and the school nothing.
Curriculum
What You’ll Learn
MedStart runs across the full academic year, August through May. Each monthly visit pairs a health professional guest speaker with a hands-on activity, so students both hear about a career and try part of it themselves.
Monthly Guest Speakers
Each month a health care professional from the local community visits the school to talk about their career, their training pathway, and what their day-to-day work actually involves. Speakers are drawn from providers working in or near the students’ own parish.
Hands-On Activities
Every visit includes a hands-on activity tied to the speaker’s field, giving students the chance to handle equipment and practice skills rather than only hear about them.
Career and Community Connection
Sessions consistently connect health careers back to local need, helping students understand the role health professionals play in their own communities and what it would take to fill those roles themselves.
Testimonials
Program Impact: Student Perspectives
MedStart is delivered in partnership with local schools, hospitals, and health professionals across Central Louisiana. Here is what some of the educators, presenters, and partners who make the program possible have to say about its impact on rural students.
Tiffany Drouin
Students are being exposed to health care career options at an early age. They are learning about careers that most kids don’t even know exist until they’re presented with them.
Elizabeth Duck
These programs not only spark interest and excitement among young people but also provide them with hands-on experiences that can shape their career paths.
Johnnie Adams
I have seen AHEC have a great impact on our students. Their programs expose students to health care career opportunities that help them decide whether to pursue a career in the health care field.
Trusted By
MedStart is currently running in schools across Avoyelles, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle, Rapides, Vernon, and Winn parishes, funded by a Future of HealthC.A.R.E. Program Grant from The Rapides Foundation.
Bring MedStart to Your School
MedStart is offered to schools rather than to individual students. If you are an educator or administrator interested in bringing MedStart to your campus, call our office at (318) 443-2855. Students at participating schools complete an enrollment form before the program kicks off.
FAQ & Contact
Need Help?
Have questions about how MedStart works, which schools take part, or how to bring it to your campus? The answers below cover what we are asked most, and our team is always glad to help.
Who is MedStart for?
MedStart is for middle school students at participating schools in rural and underserved parishes across Central Louisiana.
When does the program take place?
MedStart aligns with the school calendar and runs from August through May each academic year, with a guest speaker and hands-on activity roughly once a month.
What does it cost?
Nothing. MedStart is free to students and to participating schools.
Which parishes can participate?
Programs are available in Avoyelles, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, Vernon, and Winn parishes.
How does a school become eligible?
Preference is given to disadvantaged middle schools in rural or underserved parishes, particularly those with large low-income populations and/or high rates of free and reduced lunch.
Does my student need to apply?
Students do not apply individually, but all students at participating schools must complete an enrollment form prior to program kickoff.
How do we get MedStart at our school?
Call our office at (318) 443-2855 to talk with our middle school program team about adding your campus.
Get in Touch
If you have more questions or need personal assistance, feel free to contact us:
info@clahec.org
Drop us a message anytime, we’ll get back to you shortly.
Phone: (318) 443-2855
Available Monday to Friday 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
CLAHEC Headquarters
1308 Dorchester Drive Alexandria, LA 71303
