Blocks away from Fort Worth’s John Peter Smith Hospital, high school and college students in a medical summer program with the hospital start their day with cheers and games at a training center. They’re a high-energy but extremely focused group of students who are wise far beyond their years. We visited on a morning when the students were learning how to draw blood. This program brings doctors and nurses into the classroom for lectures, demonstrations, practice exercises, and eventually, supervised patient care on a hospital floor. “Definitely getting to be on the floor and experiencing interacting with patients and interacting with the other staff, the other PCTs, the nurses, just everybody. I mean, I think it’s so cool when you get an opportunity to be somewhere like this,” said Debra-Jul Akanmu, who participated in the program last year and did so well that she was invited back to help teach the next crop of students. She even taught us a few things. It wasn’t all smooth sailing for everyone. Jessie Echeazu’s faux patient started spurting blood. It caught her off guard and she let out a little yell, but it’s all good practice for the aspiring ER doctor “It was out of shock, you know,” she told us. Students apply for this summer program and JPS pays them to be here, treating it much like a job. While they’re learning everything from how the body works to how to write a good resume, the staff at JPS admits they’re just building a pipeline of future medical professionals. “We joke that they are our succession plans. They’re gonna run this place. And you know what? Fort Worth should be really, really good about that. Because these kids, they’re just incredible,” said Diana Singer, who helps run the program for JPS. “They go to medical school. But our biggest hope is that they’re going to boomerang back here. “ JPS offers the summer program and year-round training for future medical professionals. They leave with certifications and skills that the students said have helped them focus on their futures. ...read more read less