INROADS

Members of the INROADS class during the summer of 2008.

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The INROADS Program is a collaboration between Columbia St. Mary’s (CSM) and the Milwaukee INROADS cooperative to provide culturally diverse college students an opportunity to experience the healthcare workplace. In turn, CSM benefits from the perspective and skills of an energetic and ambitious group of young people who may choose CSM as their future employer.

INROADS interns have taken on roles as a patient care attendant, emergency care technician, public relations and marketing intern, biomedical engineering technician, business office special projects coordinator, speech language pathology intern, human resources assistant, and diversity resources intern. Some of the interns who attend Milwaukee colleges also work during the academic year. As a group, the interns have added much to CSM through their experience and their contributions will continue as they join the workforce.

An Intern's Story

The Value of Experience
by Fahad Tahir
Columbia St. Mary's Community Physicians

The INROADS experience is one that rewards ambition and academic excellence with a taste of the real world so as to allow talented students of color an advantage in today's competitive job market. This is just what I found at Columbia St. Mary’s - a real world experience in a fully invested organization with the right people in the right roles to create a successful union between student and organization.

I interned for two years in Administration of the Columbia St. Mary's Physician Division. Here, my willingness to learn and ambition were rewarded with opportunity in the form of hard work, work I may not have been ready for, work that I was yet to learn, and work that I had never seen. In summary, I got a taste of the real world. I got an opportunity to take my textbook learning and put it to the test in an environment of constant change.

I began my summer learning the role of "Coding in Healthcare" by restructuring and updating the Columbia St. Mary's Community Physician's fee schedule. My quick turnaround time and genuine interest was rewarded by an even bigger project, working on the marketing of a brand new facility, Columbia St. Mary's Germantown Clinic. This afforded me an opportunity to see the branding of Healthcare and the drivers of a successful business model. I found the challenge an enjoyable experience and yearned for more projects. Be careful what you wish for… I was given nine more!

In the following year I managed the set up and opening of nine new Columbia St. Mary's clinics throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. This included acquisitions, newly constructed spaces and moves of existing facilities. This required project management training, financial analysis, and leadership and facilitation of large groups. This allowed real growth. In this one year, I reshaped everything I knew about my professional life, my own leadership style and my strengths and weaknesses.

This last year gave me a perspective that only experience (both successes and failures) can give. I have a lot more growing to do, a lot more perspective to develop, and a lot more success and failure to face. But today, I know myself better, and nothing can be more rewarding. I look forward to my new role as a Columbia St. Mary's employee who is the Clinic Office Coordinator of the biggest Columbia St. Mary's Clinic. I can state with confidence that the last two years as an INROADS intern will be what allows the next two years to be even more successful.

Contact Information

INROADS Program
Columbia St. Mary's Departments wishing to sponsor an intern should contact:

Cynthia Stewart
Columbia St. Mary's Director of Diversity
(414) 326-2661

Students interested in participating in the INROADS Program should contact:

INROADS, Inc.
633 W. Wisconsin Ave, Suite 509
Milwaukee, WI 53203
T: (414) 272-1680
E: cstewart@columbia-stmarys.org

The INROADS website is located at www.INROADS.org. The Wisconsin Director for INROADS, Daniel Ortego, may be reached by email address of dortego@INROADS.org.