Volunteer Spotlight: Karen Gilliam Print
Organization News
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 05 December 2007 00:00
This month’s Volunteer Spotlight is on Karen Gilliam, Ph.D. Karen is the Manager for the Office of Diversity at The MetroHealth System, one of ROL’s partners in Cleveland, OH. She is a member of ROL’s Scientific Advisory Committee.
A strategic initiative of The MetroHealth System (MHS) is to engage neighborhood students and schools. Gilliam sees the partnership with ROL as a wonderful way to further this particular goal of making a difference in a young person’s life. As the manager in the MHS’s Office of Diversity, she saw the partnership as an optimal opportunity to introduce children in grades 3-5 to a variety of health care careers they might consider. A vast majority of these students are typically under-represented in health care professions. There are several benefits at hand, which include: recognizing the steps they can take to prevent illness; expanding their knowledge of health care careers beyond the doctor or nurse they might have visited; and realizing that they have a choice of careers and a future in health care.

ROL’s Health Care Career Program is a school curriculum about various health care careers. The goal of the program is to have children become interested in health professions, create education/career plans, link children to educational opportunities, and to decrease school drop-out rates. Gilliam believes in ROL’s Health Care Career Program because research has shown that as much as 90% of adult values are developed by the age of 9. She believes that through this collaboration, MHS and ROL will be able to reach children early on to influence healthy life-styles and to inspire the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, social workers, and other health care providers.

As a volunteer on the Scientific Advisory Committee, Gilliam brings on-the-job experience having worked in the community with pharmacists and health maintenance organizations. With a background in training and development, Gilliam brings over 17 years experience in program evaluation. She, along with her co-workers, is interested in knowing whether or not the program makes a difference. For example, before the training, they want to know what knowledge the students have about health care careers. What did they learn as a result of the training? How will they use what they’ve learned in personal goal setting? Gilliam shares responsibility for reviewing the health content of the ROL Curricula and the ROL Evaluation. Gilliam’s main focus is on the content and program evaluation of the Health Care Careers Program.

Gilliam enjoys walking as her healthy habit. She believes that it is not only good exercise, but also a stress reliever as well. She does admit that she could be healthier by improving her eating habits and by exercising more frequently.

When asked where Gilliam saw ROL in 5 years, she stated that she was reminded of her favorite quote by Margaret Mead, “Never forget that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” Gilliam believes that ROL is the “fertile ground upon which seeds are being planted, for generations to come, on healthy lifestyle and health care career choices.”