YEES 2 BETH: Newark Youth gain Medical Experience at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.

Pictured Above: : “YEES 2 BETH students participate in a workshop at the Youth Education and Employment Success Center (YE2S) on Diabetes and High Blood Pressure. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Randeep Gill (seated center), Academic Chief Resident of the Emergency Department at NBIMC.”  

On April 29, 2009, the YEES 2 BETH job shadow/mentoring pilot program became a reality with a volunteer orientation at the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBIMC). Nine (9) Newark high school students along with approximately thirty (30) Emergency Department residents, met for the first time during a 2-hour long session that also provided the students with a tour of the hospital, scrubs and official Emergency Department identification cards.

These cards enable students to gain unprecedented access to the highly restricted emergency department where they will shadow residents to gain first-hand knowledge about emergency medicine. 
The YEES 2 BETH pilot program is a collaborative effort between the Newark Public Schools – Office of Alternative Education, the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, and the Youth Education and Employment Success Center (YE2S). The YE2S Center is the outcome of a partnership with the City of Newark, Newark Public Schools, Communities In Schools of New Jersey, New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission, The Nicholson Foundation, Rutgers University, and numerous community-based organizations. This innovative center is committed to the delivery of positive youth development programs and services that provide Newark Public School students with measurable and marketable skills so that they can become more caring, competent, and contributing citizens of the City of Newark.

Dr. Randeep Gill, Academic Chief Resident of the Emergency Department at NBIMC, contacted the Newark Public Schools – Office of Alternative Education in early March 2009 with his idea of a program that could educate youth in Newark about issues he regularly experienced during his work at the hospital.  Dr. Gill also believed it was important that Emergency Department residents gain a better understanding of the life experiences of the urban youth they often treated.
As a result, the YEES 2 BETH job shadow/mentoring program was created.  The program includes two levels of participation for the students.  First, students are required to attend a series of five (5) preventive workshops  facilitated by Dr. Gill and medical residents that focus on Pregnancy, Health and Fitness, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Gang Violence, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Drug Use/Abuse, some of the central issues young  people experience daily and that have been identified as endemic to the city of Newark. Additionally, students are paired with medical residents for mentoring and job shadowing opportunities for 2-3 hours each week within the Emergency Department at the hospital. The student participants all share an expressed interest in the medical field and thus are gaining knowledge they will potentially use in their personal and future professional lives.
The YEES 2 BETH pilot will run from May 6, 2009 to  June 11, 2009, culminating with a recognition event at NBIMC on June 12, 2009. The program provides bus and meal tickets to students, and all participants will earn community service hours toward their graduation credits.

CONTACT: Yanique Taylor, CISNJ, Site Coordinator - YE2S Center, 200 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102, 973-242-0706, ext. 3019.