With their training complete and the proper techniques for hand-washing down pat, the Bassett Healthcare junior volunteer team for the 2005 summer program is assembled and ready to go.

"I think it will be fun," said Katie Daley, 15, from Mt. Markam high school. Daley said she was looking forward to the program and wanted to get into health care as a career. "I've kind of been interested in it forever really."

The program has been going on for more than 20 years and typically has about 25 students from schools all around the area, said director Barbara Ann Heegan. Volunteers must be between ages 14 to 18 and students who join are typically interested in a future career in health care, Heegan said.

"They get the opportunity to mentor with health care professionals to learn how to facilitate their roles going into a health care career," she said. "[The volunteers] help with making Bassett a great first impression, too."

This year's program began July 7 and has 28 members. The volunteers can work in a variety of capacities at the hospital or at any of the 21 outpatient clinics around the region. The program runs until Aug. 25 and students are asked to donate a minimum of 50 hours during the program.

Volunteers work at the front desk and help guide patients and visitors to where they need to go. They can also work in the cafeteria, rehabilitative medicine, serving spoons and in non-patient related jobs, among other things. Heegan said each volunteer gets a lot of hands-on experience with doctors and patients.

"They're getting wonderful training here," she said. Students get eight hours of training before they participate in the program. The training includes everything traditional employees receive and covers the history of Bassett, its vision and values, as well as the policies and procedures staff are to follow at the hospital.

Two volunteers in this year's program are working with Dr. Robert Lancey, chief of cardiac surgery at the hospital, and will get to witness an actual open heart surgery.

"It's not jut the thrill of watching an operation," Lancey said. "They really get a soup to nuts version of how the health care system sees patients." Lancey said they would be observing every aspect of the process, from sitting in on administrative meetings to witnessing the surgery itself.

Lancey stressed this sort of depth wasn't for everyone and that he didn't want the operating room to become a "parade." He said the two volunteers working with him were particularly interested in becoming doctors and specifically surgeons.

"This will give them an idea of what's its really like for a doctor," he said. He said providing this opportunity for students was part of Bassett's work as a teaching and research hospital.

"It's not good enough to say you care about people" you have to show it on your application, he said. Lancey said it was becoming increasingly difficult for students to get into medical school and that a program like this was excellent in distinguishing these students from the pack.

Melanie Garcia, 17, from Cooperstown Central School is one of the two volunteers working with Lancey. She said she's looking forward to the program, but isn't sure how she'll handle the surgery.

"You never really know how you're going to react," she said. She said she was looking to go into medicine, but wasn't sure yet exactly which field she wanted to enter.

Many of the participants in this year's program are sons or daughters of current Bassett employees, something Heegan said frequently happens.

"It provides a nice appreciation for what their parents do," she said.

Although the program only runs until August, students are more than welcome to still join, Heegan said.

For more information or an application, call Bassett Healthcare's volunteer services at 547-3190.