Healthcare Career “Faces of the Future” Day Huge Success
On October 7, 2025, a “Faces of the Future” health care career day was held at Veterans Memorial Hospital thanks to the coordination of Corinne Cook, RN, and Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC). The hospital’s Large Conference Room was completely filled with 27 high school students from the area school systems who quickly signed-up to attend this filled to capacity event.
These students spent the school day at the hospital learning about a wide variety of health care careers including nursing, nursing assistant, health information management/medical records, medical assistant, phlebotomy, clinical, respiratory therapy, laboratory, x-ray, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and sports medicine, pharmacy, nutrition, dietetics, behavioral health, home care, dental assistant, chiropractic, surgery, paramedic and emergency medical technician.
“What a significant opportunity for students to gain insights from the diverse professions at Veterans Memorial Hospital,” states Joann Svendsen, Nursing Faculty at NICC. “This collaboration between NICC and the local hospital is a testament to the importance of collective efforts in addressing the healthcare shortage. By participate, students not only get to see the reality of the professional, but also play a crucial role in the healthcare community, making them feel valued and integral.”
Corinne Cook, RN, is retired from nursing full-time at Veterans Memorial Hospital, but still helps out on occasion for special educational programs such as this. She also teaches nursing and nursing assistant classes at NICC. She states, “It is very rewarding to be a part of the collaboration between NICC, VMH and the local school districts. During the day the students spent at VMH, they were provided insight to many career options in the Healthcare field.”
Many of Cook’s students commented on the event as well, with the following statements:
- Today was a good day learning about all the different workers in health care and helping me choose which one I want to do in my future. -Ashley
- I was able to learn and see so many opportunities. I wish to thank them for their time and effort for helping me understand what my future can consist of. -Shelby
- This was a great experience and I’m so glad we had an opportunity to learn and dig for more information. -Angie
- I am happy that I had this opportunity and would love to keep coming. -Kaedyn
- Experiencing the career day at VMH gave me an insight on my future career path and helped me see many new opportunities inside the medical field. -Brynn
- I enjoyed this because ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to help people and this opened my doors for my future. -Allison
- Today I felt like the health care field was one of the most important as they work, help, protect and save patients every day. -Aryanna
- Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. Now I am interested in the medical field! -Grace
- I felt inspired by all of them. -Angel
Cook plans to coordinate the next health care career “Faces of the Future” day in the fall of 2026. For more information, please contact NICC at 563-568-3060.
