Health Related

Getting health-related experience is your evidence to the admissions committee that you are motivated, caring, compassionate, and sure of your career goal. Your experience can come in a number of ways but should include some patient interaction.  It is best to think of your health-related experience in terms of semesters and years. The length of time you spend gaining health-related experience is a sign of your dedication. 

Volunteering 
Volunteers are always needed and hospitals will try to place you in a setting that will be mutually beneficial. If necessary, call or visit several facilities to find the one that best meets your needs.  There are also other ways, outside the hospital, that you can help the community.  For more information on volunteering please visit:

• Career Center Volunteer Opportunities

  Find health-related experiences on and off campus!  The Career Center can connect you with organizations like North Shore-LIJ Health System, Columbia University Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and Emblem Health, and with special clinical internships like the Health Career Connection Internship, NYU Project Healthcare, General Medicine and Geriatrics Ambulatory Care Practice Internship and the LIJ Health System Medical/Clinical Internship.  And new positions are posted every day on Handshake! 

  Additional Career Center services include: healthcare and research job and internship fairs, employer panels, help finding gap year opportunities, resume review, mock interviews, and individual career counseling/coaching.

• Stony Brook University Medical Center Volunteer Opportunities

Internships
The Undergraduate Geriatric Internship is a program for undergraduate students who plan to pursue a career in a health-related field. Recently, Medicare began providing coverage for the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit. This is an extremely comprehensive evaluation which includes many types of geriatric assessments such as cognitive evaluations, depression screening, vision screening, hearing assessment, and a mobility evaluation. Applications are available in the spring semester.

All applications are done using the “Handshake” web-site through the Stony Brook Career Center. 

Shadowing 
You can shadow a doctor to see what a typical day is like for them. Start with your own doctor and ask for referrals of other doctors who may allow you to shadow them as well.  Exposure to a broad range of opportunities is important; if you choose to shadow a health-care professional, it should be considered only one of your many experiences.

Stony Brook University Opportunities

Adapted Aquatics Program: The field of adapted aquatics uses water as a medium for the rehabilitation of a great variety of muscular, neuromuscular, and neurological problems. Lectures in the adaptive aquatics program are presented by Health Sciences Center professionals who are experts in their fields, such as pediatrics, geriatrics, cardiology, internal medicine, occupational therapy, orthopedics, orthotics, pharmacology, physical therapy, respiratory care, and hydrotherapy.

Blood Bank:Stony Brook Blood Bank is an independent collection facility, serving patients at Stony Brook University Hospital by supplying them with the blood and blood products they need. We welcome the members of the community to become donors and are extremely grateful to all of our employees, friends from the community and students who assist our Blood Bank.

C-CERT:The Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in disaster response skills such as fire safety and suppression, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, C-CERT members can assist others on their campus or neighboring community following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. C-CERT members also support community emergency response by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects.

Center for Prevention & Outreach Peer Education Groups: The CHOICE and CHILL programs are full-year, two-semester, three-credit internship. Each year approximately 15 students are trained to present educational programs on different health topics listed below. In addition, they coordinate a variety of health awareness and promotion programs such as information tables, a newsletter, condom-grams, TV and radio ads, and others.

Long Island State Veterans Home @ Stony Brook University

SBVAC: Stony Brook Volunteer Ambulance Corps

Response Suicide Prevention Hotline: Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Hotline: Volunteer as a telephone counselor with RESPONSE of Suffolk County and become the caring voice on the other end of the phone! 

Other Health Related Experience

Residential Support Counselors: You can also get paid for getting health-related experience.  Some students work as residential support counselors at places like:

Long Island Head Injury Association

DDI (Developmental Disabilities Institute)

Maryhaven Center for Hope

EMT/Paramedic training: Becoming an EMT or a paramedic is a great way to gain exposure to the medical field as well as get hands on experience and patient care. There are many places where you can get experience and training to become an EMT.  Look into Stony Brook University's SBVAC program as well as the EMT/Paramedic training program at Stony Brook University Health Science Center.  You can also contact local ambulance companies and local fire departments for volunteer opportunities.  

Phlebotomist training: A phlebotomy training program provides students with a working knowledge of blood collection procedures, techniques, specimen requirements, and equipment. Please click here for more information about the phlebotomist training program at Stony Brook University Health Science Center.  You may also want to check out local community colleges and BOCES programs for other phlebotomist training programs.