Examining the medical field

Julia Springfield wants to be a doctor or a nurse when she grows up, just as long as the job doesn’t involve much blood.

The 14-year-old from Reston recently took part in Camp Discovery 2006 at Reston Hospital Center, where participants could explore various health careers.

“To be a nurse, you have to be with the patient the whole time,” Julia says. “It’s a lot more work than you would think it would be.”

Two groups of about 20 campers each spent a week learning about nurses, doctors, physical therapists and other health care professionals. The hands-on camp is for current seventh- and eighth-grade students. It is funded in part by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. Each camper pays $145.

This is the second year for Camp Discovery, says Kathryn Fay, a critical care nurse at Reston Hospital. She came up with the idea for the camp last year because she wanted to expose her 14-year-old daughter, Madeline, to the health care field.

“When my daughter got here, she loved it,” Mrs. Fay says. “When I first told her about it, she said, ‘Why are you doing this to my summer?’ It’s not as if she had a lot of other plans.”

The shortage of nurses and other health care professionals encouraged the hospital to host the camp, says Cyndee Hochstrasser, director of health and wellness at Reston Hospital.

She plans to follow up with the students after camp to see if they choose professions in health care.

“We have baby boomers that are aging,” Mrs. Hochstrasser says. “We need people to take care of them. The average age of health care workers at this hospital is 46.”

On the first day of camp, participants learned how to suture, how to use a hospital bed, how a pharmacy robot dispenses medication, how to follow a doctor’s orders for intravenous medication, and about the abbreviations used in a hospital.

The next day, the campers visited Northern Virginia Community College’s Medical Education Campus in Springfield, where half of the group talked to police who participated in securing a fake crime scene. The students learned about the role of forensics specialists, emergency medical technicians and nurses during a criminal investigation.

The other half of the group had a lesson in first aid and became certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. At the end of the day, they visited the radiology department, where students saw X-rays of lungs that had been damaged by smoking.

Later in the week, the students returned to the community college to try the activities they had missed on the first visit.

During day three, the class visited the maternal-child health unit at Reston Hospital and learned to give a newborn-size doll a bath. The participants learned how to diaper and swaddle an infant. Maternity nurses explained about the characteristics of a newborn, such as the soft spot on top of their heads. They also visited the labor and delivery room.

Alexa True, 12, of Reston, says she wants to be a labor and delivery nurse when she gets older. She is inspired by her aunt and grandmother, who are nurses.

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