photo by: Courtesy of LMH Health

Lauren Perez is pictured during her time as an LMH Health junior volunteer.

It’s becoming rare for someone to spend their entire career with the same organization. Lauren Perez is bucking that trend. Before she became a nurse practitioner at the LMH Health Heart Center, her career journey began as a junior volunteer at LMH.

Growing up in Lawrence, her initial interest in health care was fueled by her mother, a labor and delivery nurse at LMH Health.

“When I was in middle school, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. Dr. Stephen Segebrecht was a family friend, and I had the chance to shadow him,” Perez said. “It was my mom who really got my foot in the door at LMH because she introduced me to the Junior Volunteer program.”

Junior volunteers are high school students who spend their free time giving back to the community by spending time at LMH Health. They’re generally interested in a career in health care or better understanding how a hospital runs. Junior volunteers can be found throughout the hospital working with a variety of administrative and clinical staff.

“I volunteered during the summer and worked in the old pharmacy counting medication bottles and doing odds and ends,” Perez shared. “The next summer I worked in the labor and delivery unit where I made up bassinets, put folders together and interacted a lot with the nurses. It was a great opportunity to see what health care was like.”

The Junior Volunteer program is open year-round to participants who are:

• At least 14 years old

• Available to work at least one two to four hour shift per week

• Interested in helping the community

• Possibly interested in a health care career

“The program is an amazing opportunity for students. We offer a variety of placement options throughout the hospital and clinics, which allows volunteers to get insight into different aspects of health care,” said Shane Heiman, LMH Health Volunteer Services manager.

Ryan Bishop is one of the newer volunteers at LMH Health. She was introduced to the idea by her health sciences teacher at Eudora High School.

“I’m working toward becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) through my health sciences class. We went to the University of St. Mary’s and we learned about physical therapy,” Bishop said. “I really liked what I saw and my teacher suggested volunteering at LMH.”

Volunteer Services supervisor Nicole Olson heard about Bishop’s interest and contacted her to see if she’d be interested in volunteering. Olson found just the right place for Bishop at the LMH Health Therapy clinic in Eudora.

“I want to be a physical therapist, so this has been a great fit,” Bishop said. “I’m graduating from high school early and have been accepted to Baker where I’ll start working toward that goal.”

From clinic to career

The path Bishop is following is familiar to Perez. Following graduation from Free State High School, she took a CNA summer course through Neosho Community College. Perez was able to work as a nursing assistant on the surgical unit at LMH Health and continued volunteering, this time in the GI lab as she attended the University of Kansas.

“I was hired as a nurse on the 2-East/ICU unit after graduation and worked full time for several years,” she said. “After I finished graduate school in 2014, I began working at the Internal Medicine Group (now LMH Health Primary Care-6th and Folks Road) as a nurse practitioner.”

Working in primary care gave Perez a great foundation, but she knew she’d eventually like to work in cardiology. When a position opened at the LMH Health Heart Center in 2018, she jumped at the chance.

“I’m so proud to work at LMH. I feel like I make a big difference in my patients’ lives,” she said. “Local care is important and we provide great cardiology care”

No matter where Bishop ends up working after college, she says that working as a junior volunteer is an opportunity that students should consider.

“From my very first day, I was treated like part of the team,” she said. “I was able to watch and also get some hands on experience. It’s a great opportunity and one that you don’t want to miss out on.”

Perez agrees. Working as a junior volunteer at LMH Health set her on a career path that’s allowed her to continue caring for the community.

“LMH has invested in me as a person for many years, from volunteering to receiving an LMH Auxiliary scholarship for four years during college,” she said. “My family is planted in Lawrence and LMH is taking care of all of us. I love that I’ve been able to continue my career in a place that takes such a huge role caring for the community.”

— Autumn Bishop is the marketing manager and content strategist at LMH Health, which is a sponsor of the Lawrence Journal-World health section.