A version of this article that contained factual errors was printed in the Fall 2019 issue of The Cane Tassel. The article below includes corrections for these errors.

Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH) created the Medical Assistant Program to provide students the opportunity to become medical assistants right after high school, offering a jump start to this career path to seniors.

The program partnered with high schools across the island including James Campbell High School, Pearl City High School, and Waipahu High School (WHS).

HPH covered the cost of tuition for all students in  the program, while students were responsible for buying textbooks and equipment.

The purpose of a medical assistant is to provide quality care to patients and their families. They serve as the connection between physicians and patients.

HPH’s Medical Assistant Program allows students to develop skills as medical assistants so they are able to help physicians in their offices. Medical assistants’ responsibilities may include  assisting with patient exams, running laboratory tests, scheduling appointments, and checking in patients.

To apply to this competitive program, students must submit a resume, do well on the Accuplacer test, and go through the HPH interview process. Once admitted, students complete 600-670 hours of administrative and clinical coursework, as well as 225 hours of clinical externships at various clinics on Oahu. Students are then eligible to sit for the national certification exam and once passing, students were guaranteed medical assistant positions with HPH.

This past year, nine out of 17 seniors who applied and completed the program were from WHS. However, only five out of the nine WHS alumni (Jennifer Carlos, Dedrick Corpuz, Christopher Ona, Cameron Race, and Chaelli Reyes) accepted medical positions with HPH, while others went to the mainland for school.

In this previous year’s inaugural cohort, 100% of them passed their certification exam on the first try. The program is going to continue training high school students in an attempt to meet our state’s workforce needs.

“I’d like to see us get to a point where we are training a hundred [students] a year,” said Carl Hinson,  Hawaii Pacific Health’s Director of Workforce Development.