Spectrum Health, GRPS partnership creates School of Health Science & Technology

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Last week, Grand Rapids Public Schools and Spectrum Health announced a partnership to form a new Centers of Innovation high school: the School of Health Science & Technology (HST). Spectrum pledged $450,000 over three years to support the school’s programs, as well as a full-time employee to help the school develop its curriculum and goals.

With the 2009/2010 school year, Central High begins its transition to become the region’s first school with a health science and technology focus. Its purpose is to prepare a new wave of students ready to embark on health care-related careers.

GRPS reports that health care is the fastest growing industry in Michigan. HST graduates would create a pool of qualified and desirable employees for Spectrum Health, one of the leaders in the development of Grand Rapids’ Medical Mile, and other health care centers in the region.

“Spectrum Health has 10,000 employees, from physicians and nurses to billers, coders and people in our IT environment,” says Matthew VanVranken, president. “You can imagine the full gamut of the types of skills we need.”

Area colleges, such as the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Valley State University, and Grand Rapids Community College—which all offer higher education in health care disciplines—will also benefit from the opportunity to recruit high school graduates who have an education in health care.

The HST and the related educational and career opportunities could be a catalyst for shaping, and keeping, West Michigan's best and brightest health care professionals in the region.

“What we’re looking for is to create an opportunity for kids, first and foremost, to graduate from high school,” VanVranken says, “and to determine where they want to play a role in the life sciences here in Grand Rapids.”

Source: Matthew VanVranken, Spectrum Health; Grand Rapids Public Schools

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].