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A group of nine Sonoma Valley High School seniors have spent the last year learning the basics of health-care delivery through an internship at Sonoma Valley Hospital. The teens had the opportunity to watch live births and even stand in on surgeries.

"They actually got to scrub in and stand in the suite," said Dawn Kuwahara, a nurse at the hospital and the coordinator this year for the student volunteer program. For the third year, the hospital is inviting a group of high school students to spend a semester observing what it's really like to work in the hospital. The students are rotated through different departments, meaning each participant will have a chance to work in labor and delivery, surgery, the lab, the emergency room, physical therapy, the skilled nursing facility and the pharmacy. The teens are asked to spend at least three hours a week in the hospital in exchange for school credits.

The hospital offers this program every year in attempts to "get as many local people into the health-care industry as possible," said Colleen Wilson, human resources recruiter for the hospital who oversaw the program the last two years. She said in these times when California is facing a state nursing shortage, she hopes the program will inspire young people to seek careers in health care. "Some of them do go on to nursing school," Kuwahara said.

The students said they enjoy getting a behind-the-scenes look at life in the hospital. They eagerly recount tales of the ER patients they've seen or the surgeries they watched, being careful not to disclose too much to abide by confidentiality laws.

"I give all these kids so much credit for getting out there and seeing what it's all about," Kuwahara said. To participate in the program, students must fill out an application at the beginning of the school year, which can be obtained through the high school. The candidates are then asked to come in for a formal interview.

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