Oklahoma students learn about careers in health care

Harris looked less grossed-out than her friends, a good thing since she is interested in possibly pursuing a career in health care.

“It interests me how the body works and how everything goes along with the body and how it functions and what types of technologies are used to care for certain things in the body,” Harris said.

Harris was one of about 600 students from the Oklahoma City metro area who attended a high school health care career fair Friday at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City.

For most of the afternoon, students mingled around the room, looking at several booths, including an animal heart and lungs at an exhibit about respiratory care, a model of the stomach and digestive tract and a booth about nutrition scattered with fruits and vegetables.

Teresa Featherly, one of the fair's organizers, said events like this help introduce students to fields of medicine and give them a behind-the-scenes look at health care.

“Sometimes it's a very sterile environment, sometimes it's a scary environment, but there's a very human aspect to it, and I think this gives them a different comfort level,” said Featherly, a nurse recruiter at Mercy.

When most people think of jobs in health care, they think of doctors or nurses, she said.

However, there are several opportunities in health care, and presently, the state faces a shortage in some of those job categories, she said.