Area students explore health care through MASH Camp

Photographer

This week’s MASH Camp gave high school students a peek into their potential futures in health care. With hands-on experiences and close instruction from medical workers, this camp can be a gateway into the medical field.

“The idea is to expose them to the different health careers they may have a future career interest in,” said Heather Booth, health careers coordinator with the Southwest Missouri Area Health Education Center. “It’s a way for them to dip their toes in the water, see what a day in the life of a health care practitioner is like.”

Twenty-four high school students attended this year’s three-day exploratory health science camp. For MASH Camp, which stands for Missouri AHEC Science and Health Camp, students come from all around the Joplin area. AHEC has been running camps in Missouri since 1994, and holds several camps across the state each summer.

During the camp, students visit three stops around the community. On Wednesday, they spent the day at Missouri Southern State University. Students toured locations like the cadaver lab, and learned about the wide range of university programs offered, from nursing to dental.

On Thursday, students met with area practitioners at Mercy Hospital Joplin. They learned about the lab, dissected a cow eyeball for a lesson in anatomy and toured the hospital. Booth hopes seeing things like the gigantic generators that back up the facility’s power will help students understand the far-reaching management scope of the hospital.

“Running a hospital is kind of like running a small city,” Booth said. “It’s very in depth. You don’t think about how there’s engineers working in the hospital.”

To kick off Friday afternoon’s session, students participated in a wheelchair race at Freeman Hospital West. They carefully, and sometimes not so carefully, maneuvered around obstacles in the conference room. The mobility exercise was part of an effort to introduce students to the wide range of options in the health care field. Not everyone wants to become a doctor, organizers pointed out.

Students also had panel interviews with Freeman residency doctors, sat in on a presentation on behavioral health from Ozark Center and met with a Freeman dietitian. These branches of health care can serve as entry points in the medical field for students of every age, organizers said.

Booth said the camp gives students an idea of working in the medical field, through practical, hands-on experience. These demonstrations will inform students’ decisions about their future.

“I’m sure you remember being asked all the time growing up, ‘What are you going to do for a career growing up?’ That’s a very intimidating question when you’re still in middle school or high school,” Booth said. “This is a way for students to explore and figure out what’s a good fit for their careers.”

Health care, like many industries, is struggling to fill the gaps especially in the post-COVID-19 world, Booth said. Especially as the baby boomer generation ages, the field needs younger workers.

Many students who started out in MASH Camp who are now pharmacy students, physicians and nurses. Booth said students come back year after year because they enjoy the hands-on aspects of the camp.

Thursday morning was all about blood for the students. In the second-floor conference room at Mercy Joplin, groups of three went on a guided tour of a blood sample through a microscope, drew blood from a simulated vein and had a blood bank demonstration.

At the blood bank, students tested red cells to determine blood type. They were simulating an examination for coagulation to find out a patient’s compatibility with donated blood. This test has an important real-world application, explained Kimberly Lamarr, program director for the Mercy Joplin Laboratory Science Program.

“If you give a wrong unit of blood, that patient is usually going to die in a couple of days,” Lamar said. “You have to be super careful, and that’s why we do this testing. Eighty percent of the decisions doctors make to treat patients come from lab tests.”

For Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School sophomore Wanda Morsy, this is her second time at MASH Camp. Of the Thursday morning activities, the blood draw was the most eye-opening for her.

“It was a little confusing at first, but once I got it, it was fun,” Morsy said. “It’s a little nerve-wracking, especially if it was a real patient I might be traumatized.”

Morsy said she grew up around doctors and feels like it really impacted her desire now to be a doctor. She looks up to her family and friends in the medical field as role models. Currently she’s exploring a career in pediatric cardiology.

“I feel like cardiologists have such a big impact on the world,” Morsy said. “I would love to help a child feel better.”

As many students, Morsy has found a path forward through the camp. The hands-on experience has played a big part in her exploration of a future in medicine.

“Before I came last year, I was not 100% sure if I wanted to go into medicine,” Morsy said. “But now, I feel like it’s solid. I enjoy it; I think it’s for me.”

Photographer

Check joplinglobe.com/polls for past results.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.