Park’s Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) club hosted a meeting on Jan. 7, during which they wrote letters to nursing homes. HOSA helps students gain experience in healthcare, develop leadership and learn new skills.
According to club advisor Allyson Solka, HOSA is a club that allows students interested in the medical field to get a feel for what a future career in that path might feel like. She said HOSA is international and allows students all over to explore different health-related careers.
“HOSA is a student-run organization through (that is), now international, and it’s called the Health Care Occupation Students of America,” Solka said. “It’s a club that students are able to be a part of within Minnesota and within all of the US and internationally who are interested in healthcare opportunities, and it gives them a chance to explore the types of jobs that they’re interested in and make connections within their community.”
Senior HOSA president Qananii Ahmed said the activity they did, writing cards to nursing homes, allows elderly people who may feel alone to feel seen. She said the HOSA club hopes that the cards can cheer up the people at the nursing homes and improve their days.
“We are writing letters to a nursing home because older people can often feel lonely, especially when they’re in a nursing home without their family. We are writing letters to them to ensure they’re not forgotten, to share love and to help them remember that they’re not alone,” Ahmed said.
According to junior Fathi Gure, she became a HOSA member because she was interested in learning more about medical and healthcare-related fields. She said HOSA is a place where you can participate in fun activities, and it allows her to think more about her future career opportunities.
“I decided to (join) HOSA because I wanted to learn more about the healthcare field, and (joining) was a great way to do that,” Gure said. “I don’t know what I want to do yet, but I thought anything healthcare-wise was a great place to start looking. (HOSA is) engaging because it’s actually causing others to think, ‘maybe I want to do this eventually and as a career, full-time.’”
Solka said that HOSA is a very student-led program that does not require her to help out much. She said the students plan everything out, such as the meetings and what activities the club does.
“HOSA is very student-based, and it’s student-run, I think that’s really important to stress,” Solka said. “I just show up (as) an advisor. These students are taking their time to plan these meetings and reach out (to other students). (HOSA is) helping them build their confidence in speaking to people, and branching them out into the public, and I think they’re very motivated.”
According to Ahmed, she hopes HOSA can stay at Park and continue to help students interested in the health field find what they enjoy.
“My first goal is to have HOSA stay at Park,” Ahmed said. “I also want people in the club to be able to get something out of it, and I want this club to help people find their careers in healthcare or help them figure out if they want to work in healthcare at all.”
Gure said she really enjoys the direct healthcare-related activities that they do in some of their HOSA meetings. She said she hopes to participate in more activities like that in future meetings.
“My favorite part about HOSA is doing things that actually make you practice anything that’s in healthcare,” Gure said. “We did stitching where we stitched an orange, which was really fun. You get to learn more about anything that’s in the healthcare field. I hope to see more things that actually help you practice and give you actual hands-on experience. I think that will incentivize others who want to join.”
Park’s HOSA club meets every Wednesday at 3:15 p.m.
