Walk into room 2037 in Brien McMahon High School and, there, in the back of the room, is what looks alarmingly like a dead body surrounded by yellow caution tape. Of course, it’s not the real body of a teenage girl, but it is startling.
Meanwhile, teacher Sue Quatrella shows her students in principles of biomedical science class how to measure blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing, using a variety of devices. These students will be investigating the mysterious “death” of the “student,” learning the skills of a forensic scientist, one possible career in the health care field.
This is the introductory class to a sequence of courses offered in the McMahon Healthcare Pathway, a rich curriculum that focuses on careers in the health care field, offering hands-on experiences in school, in the field, at Norwalk Community College, and even at Norwalk Hospital.
“There are a lot of different careers in the medical field, but you really don’t know them,” said junior Aaliyah Flores. “In this program you take part in researching to see all the different options, and you get a vision of what you can become.”
Students in the Healthcare Pathway must take all the typical science courses — physical science, biology, chemistry, etc. In addition, though, they take a series of recommended courses such as principles of biomedical science, human body systems, medical interventions and biomedical innovations.
If that’s not enough, they take rigorous courses through the International Baccalaureate program, such as sports, exercise and health science, and medical terminology, a two-credit college course through the UCONN Early College Experience program.
And if that’s still not enough, they also take courses to get EMT, CPR, and Stop the Bleed certification.
Senior Leila Guadalupe is EMT certified through this program, earning four college credits since this is a UCONN course taught at BMHS.
“I did ride-alongs in an ambulance. Another student even helped with a heart attack, pushing air into the patient,” she said. “I had to come into contact with patients who were bleeding, and I could decide whether I love this or hate it.”
Quatrella said that the goal is to expose students to the wide variety of jobs available through course work and real-life experiences.
“One student said to me, ‘I never want to touch a patient again — they bleed, they vomit!’” she said. “It’s better to learn that in high school rather than after spending $40,000 on the first year of college.”
Two major components of the program are Project Lead the Way (PTLW) courses and a collaboration with Norwalk Community College.
Quatrella’s class with the “dead” student is the first of the PTLW courses that students take. The students were learning to monitor heart respiration rate in the class I visited. One student held two small batons near her chest that were connected by Bluetooth to a hand-held device. She answered three questions but lied in one answer. The student monitoring her answers looked for spikes or dips in her partner’s heart rate. Sure enough, lying showed.
Senior Yuko Wang told her partner she worked at an ice cream shop. Her heart rate plunged.
Olivia Prada, a senior, accused her partner of lying when she said she had five sisters; she was right. There were only three sisters.
Quatrella said that after the students saw how the body responded to lying, they would look at graphs of lie-detector tests of possible “suspects” in the death of the “student” lying on the floor. The unit, provided by Project Lead the Way, will continue with more hands-on activities, such as analyzing crime scene lab results and microscopic evidence from the morgue.
Science teacher Stephanie Tom, who teaches the PLTW medical interventions course, described the PLTW curriculum as “student-centered, teacher-facilitated.”
“Although it’s a proscribed curriculum,” she said, “it’s one of the better ones I’ve seen.” Like other teachers in the program, she received 80 hours of training with a master teacher and attended a two-week training session during the summer. At the end of each course, there’s a formal assessment that PLTW scores to evaluate student learning and the effectiveness of the teacher.
Students get more hands-on experiences at Norwalk Community College, where they go for six weeks after school to experience different medical careers, both as freshmen and as upperclassmen. Quatrella said they practice real skills, like caring for wounds, giving injections and practicing physical therapy skills.
Junior Maria Restrepo went last year and rotated through experiences in PT, nursing, medical assisting and respiratory therapy. “I liked anything having to do with labs and identifying bacteria,” she said. “It has a bit of a detective aspect.”
Other students had internships through a partnership with the Carver Center and Norwalk Hospital.
Senior Mary Lupinacci said she went twice-a-week last winter for 10 weeks after school. She rotated through different parts of the hospital. She was surprised to learn that robots do the medications in the pharmacy. “Every day you learned about a different career,” she said. “It really opened by eyes.”
And after school, students can be part of HOSA, an international program for future health care workers, which offers volunteer opportunities to connect students with their community. In November, HOSA students will help run a blood drive; they recently ran a picnic at the Norwalk Senior Center.
Students are grateful for the opportunities the Healthcare Pathway offers. Senior Julia Geta said that in 8th grade, she told her parents she wanted to be a doctor, but they didn’t think she could handle such demanding course work. They said, if you want to go to medical school, try this program.
“I didn’t think I could do it,” she said, “but seeing how happy patients get when you help them made me want to stay. I love making an impact on people.”
Roz McCarthy is a former Norwalk Public Schools employee and former Board of Education member. Email her at [email protected]
