Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida Program

HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and HCA Florida West Marion Hospital are celebrating a successful first year of a three-year grant program by congratulating hundreds of local high school students for learning more about healthcare, including pursuing potential careers in the field.

HCA Healthcare Foundation, through its Healthier Tomorrow Fund, announced a $1 million grant last year to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations to help fund its Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program. The Public Education Foundation of Marion County (PEFMC) received $60,000 from the grant to support students in Belleview High School, Lake Weir High School, North Marion High School, and West Port High School.

In Marion County, the grant supports opportunities for students enrolled in the HOSA-Future Health Professionals (HOSA) program at their respective schools. During the program’s first year, participating students learned about anatomy, medical terminology, and healthcare ethics, and received specialized training in occupations such as nursing, certified nursing assistant, certified medical assistant, and patient care technician.

Through HCA Healthcare Foundation’s grant, Rhiana Goode, a 2025 graduate of West Port High School in Ocala,  her Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) credential and completed CPR and Stop the Bleed® training. Goode said having completed CNA training helped her get her current job at a chiropractor’s office in Ocala. She plans to start nursing school at the College of Central Florida in Ocala in January. 

“I was always interested in anything in the medical field from a young age. A lot of my family do stuff in the medical field. But I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was open-minded,” Goode said. “The program gave me an opportunity to go out and see if this is something that I would actually like to do, and it helped me realize that healthcare is something I want to do for the rest of my life. The program helped me get my job because they saw that I had some experience and certification. It’s really easy to get a job now with that CNA certification alone.”

Laniyah Baker, Abigail Haigh, and Gracie Phillips, all seniors at North Marion High School, say they seek to pursue careers in healthcare after graduation, based partly on instruction provided by the HCA Healthcare Foundation grant.

“The best part of this program has been the volunteering and shadowing. It definitely gives me the first (person) point of view so I can see for myself what people do on a daily basis instead of reading it in books. That helps me a lot,” said Baker, who plans to become a registered nurse and seek a bachelor’s degree in nursing. “I definitely encourage my other friends to join. It has taught me plenty of leadership skills.”

“I want to help other people, and this program has really encouraged me in wanting to be there when they are really sick,” said Haigh, who wants to become a nurse to follow in her mother’s footsteps. “This program has shown me different ways to help people and taught me a lot experience-wise. It’s very rewarding and it’s just a great experience.”

“I’ve always wanted to do nursing or at least some type of healthcare profession and this program has really helped me gear my life toward that,” said Phillips. “This program shows how much work goes into being a healthcare professional. It can give people a bunch of experiences and new information” about working in healthcare.

So far in Marion County:

• 230 Certified Nursing Assistant students have earned CPR certifications.
• 84 students participated in job shadowing at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital.
• 640 students completed Stop the Bleed training.

“HCA Florida Ocala Hospital is honored to help strengthen our future healthcare workforce in partnership with the Public Education Foundation of Marion County and Marion County Public Schools, providing high school students real-world experience that can lead to rewarding careers,” said Alan Keesee, chief executive officer of HCA Florida Ocala Hospital. “We’re really excited to see this program continue to grow and provide more students with opportunities to learn new skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.”   

“When this partnership with HCA Healthcare Foundation and our local HCA Florida Healthcare hospitals was announced, we saw their investment as an opportunity to better equip students for careers in healthcare and to meet the increasing demand for a skilled healthcare workforce in our community,” said Meghan Magamoll, executive director of the Public Education Foundation of Marion County. “The initial results show that this initiative is paying dividends for students, our local healthcare industry, and our community. We look forward to its continued success.” 

The PEFMC is among 15 local education foundations in Florida that received grants from HCA Healthcare’s Healthier Tomorrow Fund and are participating in the initiative. Across the state, the initiative has already exceeded its goals in the first year, including:

• 42% increase across all 15 programs.
• 1,767 certifications earned by students statewide.
• 100% of surveyed students reported increased interest in healthcare careers.

HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and HCA Florida West Marion Hospital have been long-time partners of the PEFMC in supporting local students.  

HCA Florida Ocala Hospital sponsors the HCA Jumpstart to Healthcare Scholarship for seven high school seniors; the Take Stock in Children program; scholarships for the HOSA national conference; West Port High School’s school business partnership; College Park Elementary, a Community Partnership School with United Way of Marion County; the Mission Bus Brigade School Supply Drive sponsored by the Marion County Public Schools Homeless/Needy Children Program; and Thank a Teacher award, which celebrates outstanding teachers in Marion County.