Brains, Buddies & Blood
A real brain was just one of the human organs students had a chance to handle in the “organ” room of the camp. Barb Vaiden, MLS and supervisor of phlebotomy, showed campers the organs. (Observer photo by Sharon Boehlefeld)
Jim Beam, MLS, shows students some of the growing things that developed from samples they collected at their homes and other locations earlier. (Observer photo by Sharon Boehlefeld)
Mridhula Maheswaran looks through a lab microscope. She will be a seventh-grader at Rockford Environmental Science Academy in the fall. (Observer photo by Sharon Boehlefeld)
Dawn M. Somers, BS, MLS, collects trash from students in the handwashing room at camps. She was helping students learn about how diseases move from person to person and how to stop their spread. (Observer photo by Sharon Boehlefeld)
Cicely Parker, who will be a sixth-grader at Rockford Environmental Science Academy this fall, prepares for blood testing. Cecelia Brinkmeier, phlebotomist and lab scientist, led the blood lab experience. (Observer photo by Sharon Boehlefeld)
By Sharon Boehelfeld, Features Editor
July 18, 2014

ROCKFORD—What could be better than a chance to mess with really icky stuff when you’re in middle school?

Not much.

And OSF St. Anthony College of Nursing is more than happy to comply.

For the fifth year, the faculty, student nurses, and a variety of health care professionals from OSF St. Anthony Medical Center, entertained and taught youngsters at a three-day health care camp.

The program, for 50 students going into sixth, seventh and eighth grades in the fall, introduces them to several areas of health care through hands-on experiences.

The last afternoon of the camp this year focused primarily on clinical laboratories.

Some of the other areas campers explored were disaster services, nursing, operating room, radiology, pharmacy, cardiology, disability appreciation, pet therapy,  sleep lab, dietary, and physical therapy.

In addition, the campers had  a chance to learn basic first aid, to climb inside of a Lifeline
ambulance and helicopter, and, for some with parents’ permission, a simulated birth.

Dawn Somers, BS, MLS, is laboratory compliance and project coordinator at OSF. She  says, “just seeing kids, trying to get  them inspired into medical care” is the reason she likes to help with the camp.

Jim Beam, MLS and education coordinator for clinical lab professionals at OSF, also likes working with the campers.

“My favorite part is listening to how good the questions are from the kids,” he says.

Valeria Flores, who will be an eighth-grader at St. Bridget School in Loves Park this fall, was among the campers.

“This is really cool,” she says.  “I liked seeing the organs and I liked the cells.”

Roscoe Middle School sixth-grader Alexa Skrade says, “I really loved learning about all the different types of bacteria and learning CPR.”

Rodrigo Navarro, who will be a sixth-grader at Eisenhower Middle School in Rockford said his favorite part of camp was the pharmacy. “It wasn’t messy,” he says.

But camper, Leif Verace, who will be an eighth-grader at Marshall School in Rockford, liked the organ room best. “It gave a lot of hands on experience. The whole thing has brought (me) lots of opportunities and different choices I didn’t know existed before.”