Katie Coseo
Published: Friday, September 26, 2008
The Medical Explorers are not doctors or mad scientists looking for the new and exciting in medical science, but are high school students from Escambia County who are interested in learning more about the medical field.
The first Medical Explorers meeting was held on the evening of Sept. 16 at the Warrington campus.
The Medical Explorers program is part of a Boy Scouts learning program created in 1997, and since then has had over 400 students participate. Although the program is associated with Boy Scouts, girls are happily welcomed, and many attended the first meeting.
The program encourages students to have hands-on experience of certain training skills learned in programs such as nursing, phlebotomy, dental, paramedic and many other medical programs not just offered at PJC. The group also participates in community service, leadership and team-building skills, as well as helps students build a network for future career opportunities.
Jennifer Ponson, coordinator of the Student Outreach program, hosted the first meeting, and had the members participate in an EMT ambulance simulator and paramedic training. In the first meeting, students were given the opportunity to learn how to intubate patients – not human patients, but plastic mannequin volunteers that are put to use in many of PJC’s simulators.
The EMT ambulance simulator made its debut in late August. “They’re just getting [the ambulance simulator] together,” said Ponson, who explained that the simulator “allows us to bring the ambulance training inside.”
In past trainings, students learned from the back of an actual ambulance truck, regardless of the weather conditions. Now PJC and high school students are using the simulator to its advantage.