Hospital workers are natural mentors. They are driven toward excellence, service and problem resolution. They have chosen to work within a community of dedicated caregivers. They are teachers as well as lifelong learners.

A successful, hospital-based mentoring project launched 10 years ago to help at-risk inner city youth now is a benchmark solution for health workforce shortages.

Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation supporting healthcare policy, research and access, joined in 1993 to create the Hospital Youth Mentoring Partnership (YMP). Fifteen major medical centers participated in the initiative, aimed at ending the cycle of poverty and despair that too often engulf urban teens.

Social research revealed that ambitious and capable inner city youth who managed to succeed often permanently left their troubled neighborhoods. A lack of adult role models perpetuated the cycle of economic struggle in each generation.

The YMP hospitals developed individual youth mentoring programs that shared core components, including the following:

• Programs were coordinated with local schools. They offered a variety of work experiences in addition to mentoring relationships, including job shadowing, summer and part-time jobs during the school year, and both paid and unpaid internships.
  
  
• Project coordinators at each hospital recruited mentors and provided ongoing support. They acted as liaisons to local schools and selected student participants, targeting low-income, inner city youth who demonstrated promise.
  
  
• Mentor relationships were based on a big brother/big sister model of adult advocacy and guidance as well as career exploration. Mentors were chosen for their commitment and ability to serve as strong role models.

Although the Commonwealth Fund no longer provides grant funding or technical assistance, the Youth Mentoring Program continues today through the committed efforts of individual hospitals, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville (see sidebar at right). For more information on the Youth Mentoring Partnership (YMP), go to www.mentor.jhmi.edu. Site information includes frequently answered questions, contact information for program directors at the original participant hospitals, student quotes about their experiences and an order form for the $75 Program in a Box implementation manual.

Today’s youth mentoring programs vary in their approaches and curricula. They are as likely to focus on scholars as at-risk youth. Mentors range from technicians to hospital CEOs. Acting as career guides and adult role models, they help students make informed choices about school, work and future goals. Sponsoring hospitals gain by building relationships with neighborhood schools and ensuring healthy communities. Participating facilities also have found structured mentoring is a source of renewal and personal satisfaction for their involved employees.

"Employee-mentors talk a lot about their experiences," according to Don McDowell, former CEO of Maine Medical Center. "The program serves as a source of stability, something good they can grab hold of. It keeps employees involved and tied to reality. In health care today, people feel they have no control over changes in their environments. This is a way for them to see they can have an impact on something important — the life of a young person."

The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) recently launched a youth mentoring project based on an expanded version of YMP’s Program in a Box. Program coordinators selected by participating hospitals received training and a full set of implementation materials, including all necessary forms, a health science curriculum guide, program steps and timeline, recruitment and mentor-mentee matching strategies and publicity materials. Participants choose from six mentoring model alternatives, derived from SCHA’s research within its own membership. The models include:

• Online or virtual mentoring. Mentors communicate by email. Some are matched to individual students. In the adopt-a-class model, teachers coordinate class interaction with mentors. No site visits are involved in this model, which eliminates liability issues for the healthcare employer.
  
  
• Health science mentor. The health science teacher facilitates a group mentoring relationship based on a schedule of specific student assignments and activities from a mentoring curriculum guide. This model allows the mentor(s) to supplement the learning experience through a variety of contact methods, including email, class visits and phone calls.
  
  
• Career specific mentor. Students are matched with one or more professionals engaged in a specific occupation. Groups meet on a regular monthly basis. Mentors in a peer group may rotate guest speaking and correspondence responsibilities.
  
  
• General hospital mentor. A hospital holds monthly mentor days, each focusing on a different career area. Students attend tours and informational sessions, allowing them to observe work environments and interact with health professionals on the job. Student visits are arranged as scheduled field trips or after school events.
  
  
• Personal mentor. A one-to-one, informal relationship that revolves around a monthly or bimonthly lunch date at the school or healthcare facility. The mentor acts as role model, friend, career guide and advocate.
  
  
• Group mentor. Some professionals and students are more comfortable in a group setting. This model enables professionals to share the responsibility of mentoring and allows for group discussion.

The South Carolina Hospital Association does not have a packaged implementation manual for non-participants, but has generously shared its program materials with the Tennessee Hospital Association. For more information, contact Bill Jolley at bjolley@tha.com.