WC Wisconsin News

With National Nurses Week recently being celebrated across the country, one Wisconsin-area hospital is going above and beyond in its recruitment of new members.

Jenna Robach remembers still being a teenager when she got her first feel of what a career in the industry could offer. Her mom helped create an internship program at Marshfield Medical Clinic in Rice Lake; and after witnessing all the steps, a young Jenna was hooked, her respect and admiration for nurses quickly growing by leaps and bounds.

Approximately a decade ago, Robach was one of the first eight students selected for the Rice Lake High School Internship Program at Marshfield Clinic, a WEAU report said this week. The program works by accepting two students each term throughout the school year to experience different areas of the medical field, from surgery to nursing to pharmacy.

Fast forward to last February’s graduation date for Robach, when she walked across the stage with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and the rest seems destined to become history.

“Jenna was our first intern, but now she is the first that has come full circle and is employed here at the hospital so we are really thrilled about that,” Tammy Koger, volunteer services manager for Marshfield Clinic in Rice Lake, told WEAU.

“I knew I wanted to be with the patient and I think that’s one thing that really drew me to nursing was because you get to really be that patient advocate,” Robach told WEAU. “You’re there for the patient, you’re hands on and you’re involved in every step of the process so that was one thing that I really liked. I knew that I wanted to be very closely attached to the patient.”

Robach now works in surgical services in the operating room.

As for the internship program as a whole, organizers think it’s a great opportunity for students to gain observation experience and to interact with staff, the report said. Marshfield is now in the process of narrowing down 13 applicants for the eight spots that are available for next school year.