Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 8, 2024 — Maimonides Health celebrated a successful second year participating in HE3AT, a STEAM education program for Brooklyn South high school students.
The HE3AT (Healthcare, Energy, Education, Environment, Agriculture, and Technology) Program was launched at Maimonides Medical Center in September 2023, and provides monthly classroom instruction to local high school students to explore careers in healthcare, learn about medical technology, work on research projects, and gain valuable experience as they collaborate to address pressing issues.
Over the past year, 20 students from six Brooklyn South public health high schools took part in HE3AT, and another 23 high school seniors will participate over the 2024–25 academic year.
“We’ve been facilitating youth career-education, volunteer, and internship programs for more than 27 years, having welcomed more than 5,000 young people to join us in learning about the healthcare sector,” said Ken Gibbs, President and CEO of Maimonides Health. “We are grateful for our partners like Superintendent Michael Prayor who share our dedication to creating opportunities for young people to explore health care careers.”
The program was first introduced by the NYC Department of Education in 2019 and includes 14 high schools located across south Brooklyn. Maimonides is the second hospital joining the program.
During the program, students attend monthly sessions in person at Maimonides, meeting with expert healthcare professionals from various departments, touring the hospital and its facilities, and learning about advances in medical technology.
“The experiences, knowledge, and valuable moments that were given to me and my classmates at Maimonides HE3AT were incredible,” said Zion Griffith, a 2023–24 HE3AT participant at Maimonides. “I hope that more students in the future will be allowed to enjoy the opportunity the way I have”
“Before the HE3AT program at Maimonides, I had yet to decide what I wanted to do. I went from wanting to be a chef to an archaeologist to having no idea,” said Alvin Mai, a 2023–24 HE3AT participant at Maimonides. “However, Maimonides allowed me to view different aspects of the medical field and how rewarding it may be. Talking with the doctors about their specialties and looking into a day in their lives was special to me. Walking into a live operating room, seeing a real placenta, watching a lanyard fly into the MRI machine, and holding a cold bag of blood was intriguing. All of these experiences encouraged me to seek a career in the medical field. Growing up, we are fed this idea that being a doctor is impossible. While it may be true that it is difficult, it is also a rewarding task. The doctors I’ve met at Maimonides still enjoy their lives, save others’ lives, and continue to pursue their other aspirations. Ultimately, my experiences at Maimonides have made me interested in going to medical school and pursuing medicine.”
Maimonides’ Department of Volunteer and Student Services collaborates with many New York City high schools and community-based youth organizations to create volunteer youth internship programs. We are the largest site for the City’s Department of Youth and Community Development Summer Youth Employment Program and 1199 SEIU Child Care Corporation Youth Mentoring Program among all other healthcare facilities. This year, more than 400 youth from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds completed our 2024 Summer Youth Program, assisting in all aspects of Maimonides’ operations, from business and medical offices to patient care areas and support services. Our Health Scholars Emergency Department Internship offers an opportunity for high school and college students interested in pursuing careers in healthcare to spend time as a team member in the Emergency Department of the busiest hospital in Brooklyn, caring for over 120,000 patients each year.
View photos of the event here. To download photos, use PIN 9532.
Maimonides Health is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, serving over 320,000 patients each year through the system’s 3 hospitals, 1,800+ physicians and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers. The system is anchored by Maimonides Medical Center, one of the nation’s largest independent teaching hospitals and home to centers of excellence in numerous specialties and Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital (formerly New York Community Hospital), a 130-bed adult medical-surgical hospital; and Maimonides Children’s Hospital, Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital and only pediatric trauma center.
Maimonides’ clinical programs rank among the best in the country for patient outcomes, including its Heart and Vascular Institute, Neurosciences Institute, Bone and Joint Center, and Cancer Center. Maimonides is an affiliate of Northwell Health and a major clinical training site for SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. For additional information, please visit www.maimo.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.