SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – 15 high school students with aspirations for careers in the medical field spent a very instructional three days at Springfield Hospital in Southern Vermont Area Health Education Center’s (AHEC) MedQuest Program. This was no ordinary summer camp. These high school learners followed a curriculum designed and delivered by medical students from the Robert Larner School of Medicine at the University of Vermont. The medical students also functioned as student mentors.
A typical day would include practicing suturing with special kits, participating in a vital signs module where they did blood pressures, body temperatures, and performed patella, bicep, and triceps reflexes. They also performed lumbar punctures on mannequins, attended job shadows at Springfield Hospital and North Star Health, and studied health empathy and social determinants of health, by doing activities that mimic conditions that afflict people including arthritis, visual and hearing impairments, and neuropathy. Doing this exercise gave the students a greater understanding of the challenges these individuals face every day. Health career professionals shared their personal stories of why they chose a health career during a panel discussion. At the conclusion of the program, the students did poster presentations on who they were and what health career pathway they wanted to pursue.
“Programs like MedQuest enable high school students to get a glimpse into the health career field through experiential learning,” enthused Amanda Richardson, director of health careers with Southern Vermont AHEC. “We hope programs like MedQuest serve a larger purpose by encouraging students to pursue careers in health, thus helping to address the critical health career shortages in Vermont.”
For more information on MedQuest and other Southern Vermont AHEC programs, visit www.svtahec.org.