Lloyd Dobbler’s Healthcare

So a lot like Lloyd Dobbler, America's youth don't seem all that interested in selling anything bought or processed, or processing anything sold or bought, at least as a career, but they are increasingly looking at healthcare. In a Behavioral Health Hour poll of 37,610 16 to 24-year-olds, a whopping 63%—up from 57% in 2023—named a healthcare job as their most likely pursuit. Most pointed to family experience as the reason - a brother or sister on the autism spectrum has nearly 3% interested in working as a therapist or counselor, mom's breast cancer fight has 6% wanting to be a researcher in a lab or an oncology nurse, and grampa's time in hospice and nursing homes at the end of his life has 5% interested in palliative care. Nearly 12% said they love sports and activity and "when the dream runs out on being the next Steph Curry" as one 16-year-old said, they hope to work in social work or exercise science and sports health programs, particularly in inner cities. About 12% from urban areas said they are interested in robotics and AI-related work in the medical field, largely due to experiences they have had in school, and nearly 30% of those who consider themselves "math geeks" say they are interested in statistics and predictive analytics. A community college student says her grandfather’s passing after immigrating here has her interested in closing gaps in healthcare disparities. “He didn’t get the same attention, we were ignored until it was too late.” Several mentioned doing work to figure out patterns of disease and how to slow progression or get help to people sooner, about 4% saying their aunt or uncle's MS is a reason. About 7% named fictional characters as those they "hope to be in real life," like TV's Dr. House. In total, about 10% of the ~37,000 still have high hopes of a “big job” like George Costanza hoped to have as general manager of the New York Yankees, but as Jerry said, "I think you need to have been a professional ballplayer to get that job." The poll is obviously just a snapshot in time, but it almost seems as though the effects of coming of age in the 2020s amidst a storm of health crisis has drawn the youth and young adults in. My own daughter is pursuing performance and singing but interested in doing that in hospitals and nursing homes - she wonders, "maybe it won’t cure someone but maybe make them feel better?" As the definition of what healthcare looks like in America expands, it seems the more attractive the field is for those coming up the ranks. But despite what is a promising study, there are still questions - 71% say they are not sure exactly how to pay for the training and pursue the career, that economic or social factors facing their family may be a barrier. My 2 cents for the 18-year-olds is take a cue from Lloyd Dobbler - take chances as John Cusack’s character did when he asked out the valedictorian and spend as much time as possible just being with someone else, maybe a Diane Court, maybe not, but at least see the world and experience life before settling on anything, particularly a career…

…I slid the old Peter Gabriel cassette into the old boom box last night, rewound for 10 seconds, flipped the tape, hit PLAY then STOP then flipped and rewound 3 more times and alas there it was, “In Your Eyes.” I held it high like Lloyd Dobbler, stood atop the coffee table and told 17-year-old Tommy “this was a quintessential 80s moment ” epitomizing an era of persistence, optimism, big hair, great songs and surprising yet perfect marriages like Lloyd’s with Diane Court. “What’s a boom box,” Tommy said. When we rewind healthcare in 10 years I suspect we may see the same thing – partnerships that come out of left field but oddly work: schools becoming health centers, dentists and allergists teaming to treat gum disease in those with asthma, autism therapists and GI docs linking up to address GERD in kids on the spectrum. Dermatologists and teen therapists joining to halt acne-induced suicide attempts. We may see the influence of a younger generation prioritizing healthcare in ways our generation hasn’t. 15% are interested in changing a system they believe has big disparities in healthcare largely from watching their own 1st generation family suffer the effects of being ignored or "made to feel like nothing is wrong—when it was." Will they be able to change the system? As Diane told Lloyd, “No one really thinks it will work, do they?” No, said Lloyd. “You’ve just described every great success story.”