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1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.602 &gt;&gt; [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; Narrator: Today the Roadtrippers are going to explore two different career paths within healthcare: nursing and art therapy. &gt;&gt; [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; Hannah: For me, I'm interested in healthcare. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: I am really looking forward to getting in advice for people in healthcare. &gt;&gt; Narrator: Healthcare is the second largest industry in the greater Wichita area, employing over 27,000 people annually, and with more than 800,000 people to care for in this region. South Central Kansas is now home to 18 inpatient care facilities, plus hundreds of specialty medical practices. Their first stop is Wesley Medical Center. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: Could you tell us a little bit more about yourself, or what journey you took to get where you are now? &gt;&gt; Logan: I have worked here for 15 years in different capacities, from sterile processing on up to helping create our spine surgery program. Surgery isn't normal for folks. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: Right. &gt;&gt; Logan: So that's why I'm here to help it be a little easier process for them. &gt;&gt; Hannah: It was a really different environment than what I was expecting to be in. I wasn't expecting to wear scrubs. &gt;&gt; Austin: We were right in the operating room. I guess I didn't know what to really expect. &gt;&gt; [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; Katie: Usually, when I describe art therapy, I kind of tell people it's imagine just traditional therapy. But we are using more of the art and the creative process, the act of making it as the therapy as opposed to just talking about it. So there's a lot of things that making art, or engaging in some kind of creative process can tap into more than trying to find the right words to describe what's going on. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: That's so important. &gt;&gt; [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; Jessica: I, as an art therapist, will design an art directive or art project that we'll do together. So the session very much looks like my client comes in, we have a quick check-in, and then we quickly move to the art table and we start creating whatever this directive is. So one thing about art therapy, there's definitely a mindfulness quality to it. You are engaged in your senses right now. Literally, we can even smell the shaving cream, that is all very good for our mental health. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: The activity was fun. It's definitely something I was stressed about some because I'm not artistic and I'm not very creative and I get worried that things aren't gonna be perfect when I do it and why am I wasting my time doing it? &gt;&gt; Jessica: This project is a perfect example of how we're not making art to hang on the wall and it doesn't have to be something beautiful but it's more about the process of making it. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: Wow. &gt;&gt; Jessica: Beautiful &gt;&gt; Narrator: While about 40% of healthcare workers in South Central Kansas work in private practitioners' offices, another 33% work within a hospital setting, where your day-to-day life may look more structured like Logan's. &gt;&gt; Logan: We typically do around 30 orthopedic and spine surgeries a week and so a busy day for us would be about ten total joint replacements- &gt;&gt; Gary: Wow. &gt;&gt; Logan: And five spine surgeries. &gt;&gt; Gary: You've got a lot on your plate. &gt;&gt; Logan: It's a very full plate. &gt;&gt; [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; Narrator: The average mean wages for healthcare workers in Sedgwick County is $82,800 a year. In Kansas, art therapists make $47,150 a year on average and registered nurses make $64,100. Both registered nurses and art therapists are considered bright outlook careers by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which means they're expected to grow rapidly and offer high rates of job opportunities over the next several years. In fact, during the road trip, registered nurses were the most in-demand healthcare career in South Central Kansas. &gt;&gt; [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; Logan: My wife and I decided to go to nursing school together. &gt;&gt; Austin: So we went through a junior college plan and I've transitioned into a baccalaureate-level nurse since then. &gt;&gt; Hannah: Did you feel like you've had any kind of noise or people telling you to do something or not to do something? Did you experience any of that? &gt;&gt; Logan: Absolutely I think what's important is to take the constructive criticism from everybody that you meet early in your career and take the best pieces from everybody. And then that can help you mold your philosophy on work. &gt;&gt; Narrator: In South Central Kansas, most registered nurses must earn a bachelor's degree like Logan. But if you're interested in becoming a nursing assistant or a vocational nurse, you can get started with an associate degree or even a certificate from your local community college. No matter which educational path you take into nursing, you'll also need to complete your clinicals, which are hours of on-the-job training where you'll shadow other medical professionals. In addition to classwork and clinicals, many nursing students choose to work entry-level healthcare jobs on the side to learn more about the industry and get their foot in the door. For example, Logan got his start at Wesley Medical Center as a sterile processing technician. &gt;&gt; Logan: I started in sterile processing. So what that means is you have the instruments that are used during surgery, they need to be prepared and sterilized before they're used on people. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: That fascinates me, the devices, the medical devices. &gt;&gt; Logan: Yeah. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: It's a huge field. &gt;&gt; Logan: It's a big field and it's always, always changing. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: Yeah. &gt;&gt; Logan: I did that for a few years while going through some of my undergrad studies, became a circulating nurse in the operating room, and then in 2017, helped start the spine surgery program here at Wesley. Since then I have acquired the total joint replacement program earlier this year. To do a laminectomy, we use a high-speed drill like at the dentist's office, and you go and you thin out the bone right through here. So once you take the pressure off those nerves, that should free them up to alleviate the pain that patients are having in their backs and their legs. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: Do I have to line it up better? &gt;&gt; Logan: Back towards you. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: That's the point, okay. From a biomedical standpoint, I thought that the demonstration of the device was definitely the coolest part. &gt;&gt; Mirza: I was constantly thinking how hard it must be for the doctors to do that on the real human beings, how precise and how sensitive they had to be. &gt;&gt; [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; Narrator: While there are many paths into nursing, the road into art therapy is a bit more structured. In order to practice as an art therapist in Kansas, you'll need both a bachelor's and a master's degree. What you choose to study for your bachelor's degree is flexible but many art therapists start their path by studying art. &gt;&gt; Katie: I had always been really involved in art. And I loved making art and I knew I wanted to do something with that but I took my first psychology class and I completely fell in love with it. I was like this is fascinating to me. I really wanna know more. And then I heard the words art therapy, and I was like, that is for me. That's what I wanna do. &gt;&gt; Aubrie: For young individuals, how would you recommend or kind of guide them into getting into art therapy? &gt;&gt; Jessica: Reaching out to an art therapist, and just sitting down kinda like we are today. That's a great place to start if you're not connected or you don't know anybody in the field. &gt;&gt; Logan: Be eager to work, come ready to learn and ready to work, and immerse yourself into the field that you're exploring as a career option early. &gt;&gt; Hannah: So what keeps you motivated in this job? &gt;&gt; Logan: The little victories are important. Maybe an elderly lady had a back problem that didn't allow her to walk down the aisle in the grocery store and we can help her do her month's worth of grocery shopping now. That's a big deal. Give people their lives back. 

Love helping people? Explore two paths into health care: art therapy and orthopedic nursing

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