As Shadle Park sophomore Paisley Lipko approached the cadaver lungs displayed on a table in small room adjacent to the anatomy lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine’s state-of-the-art building in Spokane, two medical students across the table encouraged to feel the lungs.
After brief hesitation, Lipko felt the cadaver lungs with both hands.
“It was kind of weird, but it wasn’t insanely gross,” she said.
Lipko was one of about 50 high school students to tour the medical school last week. First-year medical student Zakriye Mohamed organized the event, which also involved students from Eastern Washington University’s dental hygiene program, Whitworth University’s physical therapy program, and UW’s medical and physician assistant programs. High school students also met with paramedics- and EMTs-turned-medical students to learn about career pathways in the health sciences.
In November, Mohamed contacted Scott Kerwien, SPS’ chief of student success, hoping to inspire SPS high school students to pursue careers in health care, much like he was inspired to do so when he was in high school.
“A lot of students from my background, a low-income background, may not have the opportunity to go to these events,” Mohamed explained. “I wanted to work with the school district and get buses of students here and offer my experience. As a high schooler, visiting the UW School of Medicine in Seattle on a field trip was my first introduction to medicine and the reason I’m here today.”
The high school students traveled room-to-room hearing from medical, dental, physical therapy and physician assistant students about their journey to their health sciences program. They learned about being a paramedic and had the option to see and touch a cadaver heart and lungs—both healthy and non-healthy versions.
“This will motivate these students to pursue medicine and give them the inspiration and motivation and self-belief in being able to pursue these endeavors,” Mohamed said.
For Highlander Lipko, the event had a deeper meaning. When she was in the seventh grade Lipko had open heart surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor.
“Having my surgery, I’ve always wanted to look into health care,” she said.
The high school students also mingled with current health sciences students during lunch and ended the day with a Q&A panel.
This experience was invaluable to the SPS students, and it was all thanks to Mohamed’s initiative, which is a lesson itself for high schoolers to know.
“You don’t realize how much opportunity and power you have just by asking people questions,” Kerwien explained. “Zak created this event simply because he emailed us, and they’re here because Zak said, ‘I want to create an opportunity for students.’”
UW Medicine Tour by Spokane Schools
SPS students view aortic valve replacement
In April, Providence Sacred Heart Hospital welcomed students from NEWTech’s medical assistant class and SPS high school students to a livestreamed open heart surgery, as another chance for students to explore health care careers. The surgery took place in Portland, Ore., and students watched the feed from Spokane.
The surgery team narrated the surgery so students could follow along and included a live talk-back session with the surgical team. Students asked questions via Microsoft Teams and the surgical team answered them in real-time.
This was another event to expose SPS students to careers in health care, one of the top job sectors in Spokane. Students learned about the crucial collaboration and precision behind delivering quality care and successful operations.