A group of business administration students from Eastern learned about the business and operations of the health care industry at a local agency in Willimantic this spring semester. The hands-on experience took place at Generations Family Health Center as part of business administration Professor Fatma Pakdil’s Health Care Management class. 

“This is a great example of ‘hands-on experience’ and ‘practically applied learning’ at Eastern, said Pakdil. “It is also a good example of university and industry collaboration.” “Students had an opportunity to learn how healthcare delivery and administrative processes are planned, organized and run by health care professionals.” 

This was the second semester engaging her student with Generations, supplementing traditional classroom work.  “This program began in the fall 2023 semester with three hours per week for a three-week period,” said Pakdil. “This spring, students worked with administrative staff and managers for two hours per week for a two-week period at Generations.”

The participating students were Amanda Pedro, Ashlyn Rogers, Delia Gee-Champagne, Dylan Rice, Elisabeth Rodil, Gabriel Augustin, Gabriela Valera Santana, George-Ann Christie, Juliana Pasakarnis, Katya LaPierre, Mariangel Duran Galvin, Noah Chokas, Noah Mafore, Nora Yastremski, Patrick Brothers, Pawel Dabek, Renecia Rhoden, Wesley Buzelle, William Murkette, Sean Cafferty, Noah Madore, Kelsey Reid and Ania Smith.

According to Rice, one of Generations' primary goals is to cater to people who may not otherwise have the resources to attain necessary medical assistance. 

“Generations provides a list of services to those who are less fortunate and in need of health care. This can be a variety of things such as not being a United States citizen or not having enough money,” said Rice. “They try to make it possible, so everyone has the ability to get the care they need.” 

According to Pedro, the experiential learning gave her a first-hand perspective on the health care industry. “I learned about jobs that are involved behind the scenes of health care and jobs that are directly related to the care of patients, but I was most interested in the behind-the-scenes work,” said Pedro, referring to aspects of the field that require technological proficiency. 

Brothers said that the experience connected him with health care professionals and speakers who immersed the participants in the environment through a tour of the facilities and their functions. 

“To me, the program’s standout feature was the dedicated guest speakers and the employees at Generations that spent the time to show us around the building and give us more knowledge about their positions in the company,” said Brothers. “These employees also navigated us through the hidden intricacies of health care operations and also shed some light on the subtleties of patient rights.”