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by Tara Beverly
On Saturday, Nov. 13,
Southeastern Ohio middle-school students had an opportunity to
explore their interests in science and health careers at “Health
Care Professions and the Cycle of Life.” “Health Care
Professions and the Cycle of Life,” sponsored by OU-COM’s Health
Careers Opportunity Program, was a fun-filled educational fair
of exhibits, games, hands-on labs and workshops designed to
introduce young people to, and stimulate interest in, the
variety of science and health-care related vocations that are
available to them as they pursue their educations. The fair was
held at Grover Center.
Professionals from
nursing,
pediatrics, geriatrics, osteopathic medicine, mental health and
community health were on hand to talk with students from Vinton
County Junior High School, Meigs Middle School, Alexander Junior
High School and Trimble Middle School. OU-COM medical students
also supervised activities at fair. The middle-school students
are members of HCOP’s Science and Health Careers Club.
The Science and
Health Careers Club is an academic year-long program for
seventh- and eighth-grade students interested in science and
health-related careers. Members also learn about the importance
of preparation for college and developing cultural competency as
health-care professionals. This year the club had 58 members.
Jane
Hamel-Lambert, Ph.D.,
OU-COM’s director of interdisciplinary mental-health education,
worked with groups of
middle-schoolers during the day at a computer lab.
Hamel-Lambert’s interactive workshop explored personality and
mental health. Students also took an online personality quiz.
“The online personality quiz
helped introduce the kids to personality research and the field
of mental health,” says Hamel-Lambert. “It also exposed them to
technology. Most of the kids were very enthusiastic and
interested. Each of them got a printout of their personality
type. Middle-school kids are very young and in very early stages
of thinking, and this fair allowed them to consider
opportunities they might not otherwise learn of.”
Another workshop, “Geriatric
Medicine,” conducted by Deborah Meyer, OU-COM’s
geriatric medicine administrator, was designed to help young
students understand the value of working with geriatric
patients.
“How many of your grandparents
are 65 and above?” asked Meyer students.
A majority of them raised their
hands.
“Then this lab will be very
important to you,” she added.
Meyer, who made the front of
the room into a gigantic tic-tac-toe board, divided the students
into two teams. She then asked each team a true or false
question about the elderly. Prizes, including calculators and
pencils, were given to the winning team.
During the course of the
workshop, the middle-schoolers were put through a series of
sensory exercises. They put on goggles that were rigged to mimic
cataracts and blindness in the elderly, headphones that mimicked
hearing loss, and performed a task that simulated the
difficulties of arthritis.
Yet, Meyer’s overall message to
them was that being elderly didn’t mean that the elderly
couldn’t be active and productive.
“My 76-year-old mother can
still beat me down the slopes when we go skiing in New
Hampshire,” Meyer told the students, to which they cheered and
laughed.
Students, who bounced from
activity to activity with goodie bags in hand, were very excited
and pleased with the fair.
“This club is really fun, and
this day has been awesome,” says Annisha Kopec, 12, Meigs Middle
School. “We have the opportunity to see so many careers in the
health and science fields. I would rather spend time here on the
weekends than sitting at home watching television or playing
video games. This fair also helps you prepare for college.”
“Yes,” says Ashley Mayes, 12,
also from Meigs Middle School, “I decided to join this program
because it sounded really fun. It was important to me to join an
organization that would help me reach my goals. My brother has a
disability, and I thought I could learn things that might help
him,” she adds.
“This program is important,”
says Hamel-Lambert, “because it allows underprivileged students
the opportunity to really explore health and science career
fields in a very hands-on way.”
“I feel very happy and proud to
be able to participate in this wonderful event.”
Also sponsoring
the fair was the College of Health and Human Services, School of
Recreation and Sports Sciences, Department of Geriatric
Medicine/Gerontology, Appalachian Rural Health Institute, Upward
Bound Program, O’Bleness Memorial Hospital, Center for
International Studies, Area Health Education Center, Pediatrics
Club, Geriatrics Club, Student Osteopathic Medical Association
and Community Service Programs.
OU-COM’s HCOP and Center of
Excellence programs support disadvantaged and underrepresented
minority students with career goals in the health–care fields by
providing academic year and summer programs designed to improve
student access and success. HCOP also sponsors a variety of
programs including Summer Institute, Dayton Consortium, Summer
Enrichment, Program ExCEL and Summer Scholars.
News for the week of Nov. 15 – Nov. 20
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