medical terminology

How I Learned to Suture on Summer Break: Glendale Health Career Institute

Today's guest blog comes from Karen Mattox, Manager of Communications and Community Relations, and coordinator of MWU's Summer Health Career Institute. Karen's passion for this award-winning summer program for high school students continues to improve the experience for participants.

They came from 30 high schools throughout Arizona, and even a few from California and New Mexico. For eight days this summer, 48 students in the 2008 MWU Health Careers Institute got a crash course in the life of practicing health professionals as well as students in many medical fields.

Photo: Learning on how suture on pig's feet.
This free program, sponsored by MWU, offers hands-on labs, lectures, and activities in more than 20 different health careers, from optometry to occupational therapy, pharmacy to physical therapy, biomedical science to bioethics. Since 1999, the University has hosted this program on its Glendale Campus for excellent science students, and this year's class was no exception. From 9:00 am to 4:00 pm each day, they visited MWU labs, tried their hand at suturing, venipuncture, intubation, EKGs, pharmacy compounding, DNA extraction, the heart-lung machine, surgical gowning, and much more. They asked lots of questions of the 20+ faculty who donated their time to inspire these future health professionals, and they excelled at Medical Jeopardy by the end of the week, with questions from difficulty categories such as anatomy, health careers, and medical terminology.

Photo: Up close in the OR at Arrowhead Hospital.
Additional special activities included a field trip to Arrowhead Hospital, a lively physical therapy workshop with Physicians Physical Therapy Service, and an exciting mock EMS rescue scenario with the Glendale Fire Department, complete with turnout coats, radios, helmets, and more.

Photo: Small groups conduct rescue scenarios with the GFD.
With 48 participating students, there were likely 48 different favorite workshops and career paths:
"This camp has been an amazing experience and I can't wait to see what we do next. My favorite activity was using a camera to find the trachea to attach the breathing machine to a 'knocked out' patient."
—Zach Marin, Chaparral High School Junior
"I wanted to come to the MWU Health Careers Institute to gain the tools necessary to put me a step ahead of pre-med students in college. I also wanted to learn more about the specific professions I am interested in, such as ER doctor, sports medicine, and pediatrics. I loved the experience so much. My favorite activity was listening to Dr. (Chip) Finch about his experiences as an ER doctor."