If you enter junior Yadlie Joseph’s bedroom, you will hear the sound of typing bouncing across the room as she plans blood drives and other events designed to help kids prepare for the medical field.

      All of this work is related to a new volunteer project called Youth Med Connect, with it being founded by Joseph.

     The organization’s goal is to prepare kids for medical careers by providing them with resources on the field and by hosting events to get them engaged in said career field.

     “Many kids are scared because they don’t have the money for the schooling they need to go into medicine, but there are financial aid options to help these kids,” Joseph said. “That’s what the project is about – connecting students to resources they might not know about.”

     Youth Med Connect does many things to try to spread multiple resources to students, including helping kids organize blood drives at their respective schools by connecting them with the buses that do the blood taking and by helping their members determine where in the town to host said blood drive. Youth Med Connect also gives out community service hours for these blood drives through an adult advisor. The first of them was held on August 2nd in Blountsville, Alabama, with it being put together by a local board member, and more are planned for the future.

     Members also give presentations to their science classes on the medical field and how to join it, with them recently giving these presentations out to kids in teachers Peter Saintil and Daniela Poenairu’s classes at Krop, with plans to present to other classes at the school. There are also plans to present at other schools.

 The organization also posts information to its Instagram page, @youthmedconnect, including opportunities for working in the medical field outside of hospitals.

     Still, more expansion is planned. A website called Youth Med Connect has been set up and it will soon host news bulletins on events in the industry, and a blog called “Connecting Body to Soul,” that focuses on both advice given from people currently in the mental field, as well as various mental health topics.

     Joseph’s desire to found the group was based on past negative experiences with doctors and a desire to create a better generation of new ones.

     The organization is attracting many members from across the country, including some students here at Krop.

     “I joined because I want to go into healthcare in the future and I found it a cool way to expand my horizons and meet new people,” said Senior and Youth Med Connect Co-Director Simja Haratz.

     You can find both a Substack that hosts the blog and a link to apply to Youth Med Connect in the bio of the Instagram page.