Miss. Students Explore Medical Work at Career Expo

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo

This week's "Imagine the Possibilities" Career Expo offered Northeast Mississippi's eighth graders 18 different job sectors to explore.

From construction to furniture manufacturing to education to marketing, students learned about salaries, education requirements and daily duties from local professionals.

In one corner of the BancorpSouth Arena lobby, doctors, nurses and EMTs set out to attract the region's next generation of medical professionals. And with surgical dummies, animal organs, mock procedures and lots and lots of fake blood, they did not hold back the reality that hospital work isn't for the squeamish.

"I don't want to be a nurse," said Bruce High School eighth-grader Catlin McCammon after turning down the opportunity to put on plastic gloves and hold a pig heart. "I don't want to touch any of that."

McCammon wants to pursue a career in cosmetology, but there were still plenty of students on hand on Thursday morning who were interested in medicine. For those with nurses and doctors in their family, a tolerance for blood and guts has been built up over the years.

"I thought it was pretty cool. I think I want to be an ER nurse," Bruce High eighth-grader Lily Tutor said after taking time to poke her fingers into the pig heart's different valves. "Most of my family is in nursing, so they've sort of talked me into it. I'm okay with blood and stuff. It doesn't bother me."

Outside in the parking lot, students glimpsed inside medical-evacuation helicopters and ambulances. At another exhibit, ER nurses gave lessons in tying tourniquets around gun-shot victims.

"The ER is different. It's a lot of type-A personalities who like that adrenaline rush. After something bad happens, you have to know that there's somebody next door that needs you as well, so you leave that room and keep going," North Mississippi Medical Center Emergency Room Nurse Courtney Coffey said. "If it was your loved one, you'd want somebody to do everything for them, so you have to block everything else out and worry about the patient."

Not every medical booth was related to anatomy or trauma incidents. Inside there was a row of neonatal exhibits to show students how doctors and nurses check vital signs and pump oxygen to newborn babies.

Beyond the physical duties of the profession, presenters shared with students their own motivation for working in hospitals.

"I'm trying to help them understand that a health field is very important and very rewarding," NMMC pediatric floor unit coordinator and nursing assistant Carolyn Mathis said. "At the end of the day when you go home, you have this satisfying feeling that you helped someone whether it's the patient or the family."

For professionals who are used to high-pressure situations and stressed-out family members, Thursday morning was an opportunity to connect with youth in a relaxed setting.

"Sometimes nowadays we feel like we're as disconnected as we'll ever be and there's no personalization. Right here we get a chance to be eye-to-eye, and that personal touch makes a difference," said Lee Loden, who supervises surgery turnover teams at NMMC and started working in the hospital after he lost his factory job at 38-years-old. "I love sharing that with these kids, 'Don't ever give up'. Whether you're in eighth-grade or 38, you're never too old to learn."