Trailblazer campers in Dillon undergo medical assistant classes learning how to check blood pressure and dress bedsores June 18 at Dillon High School.
Dressing the infected rear-end of a partial medical dummy wasn’t on the summer checklist for Dillon County rising eighth and ninth graders.
Northeastern Technical College Medical Assistant Instructor Latonyia Hunter revealed the plastic replica featuring bed sores, infections, and a nasty case of diaper rash during a June 18 class for the Trailblazer Summer Campers.
The long silence and bugged-out eyes among the underclassmen in the Dillon High media center were a clear indication today’s lesson into the medical field may be tad bit gross.
“It can be a lot, but you will get a stomach for it,” Hunter said.
Northeastern Technical College hosted rising eighth graders and freshmen from June 3-21 in Marlboro and Dillon Counties aimed at introducing students into manufacturing and medical fields through a series of classes and trips.
NETC’s Trailblazer Camp is designed to expose young students to high demand and high wage careers available close to home and without debt burden of a four-year university, said NETC President Dr. Kyle Wagner.
“It is crucial for eighth graders and high school freshmen to begin exploring the industrial workforce. Our summer camp provides them with early exposure to real-world career opportunities and helps young students develop an understanding of the essential skills that are highly valued and needed,” he said.
Students who completed the camp received a free workforce certification.
In Dillon County, students met at Dillon High with Marlboro County students meeting at NETC campus in Bennettsville.
In the Dillon High media center, Hunter brought her medical assistant students who broke out with the high schoolers for one-on-one training to take and read blood pressure and using the traditional cuff and pump and operating an oxygen reader.
Then, the high school students took blood pressure readings on the NETC students.
“Medical assistants are jacks-of-all-trades,” Hunter explained to the high school students how medical assistants help nurses and physicians from a wide range of duties from taking vital signs, administering medications, making follow-up appointments, to dressing wounds like bed sores.
Most important, she said, anyone in the medical field must learn to create bonds and trust with patients.
After the ice was broken among the students, the less grossed-out students took turns with each step measuring an infected bedsore, cleaned the wound, placed an antibiotic, and dressed the wound and a final date and initials.
“Remember, if it was not documented, it didn’t happen,” Hunter said.