Program brings teens, health care careers together

Take some teenagers who watch the Discovery Health Channel a lot, put them in an environment where they can ask neonatologists questions and the conversations can take a turn for the interesting, bizarre and even gory.

"How much weight do you gain when you're pregnant?" "Who wants to bag a baby?" "That's real blood, right?" "Is the placenta heavy?" "Can I touch it?"

Welcome to SCRUBS U, a program offered through Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital for teens 13 and up to learn about various health care careers.

And for the record, according to the specialists: There's no required amount of weight you must gain during pregnancy, although 20 pounds is about average.

The term "bag a baby" means to squeeze the plastic bag on a resuscitation device in the hospital's nursery. On par for a hospital, yes, it was real blood. The placenta weighs roughly a pound and a half, according to Ginger Ballentine, the registered nurse who showed a real one to the group. And she did let them put on latex gloves and touch it.

"We just learned that's what they really want," said Joan Perry, the hospital's volunteer coordinator, said of the students.

They want hands-on activities, including the more bloody ones. Perry is in charge of the program. "They really want to see this stuff."

SCRUBS U is an expansion of previous programs St. Francis has offered to foster interest in medical career paths. Several years ago, the volunteer office paired up several students who showed interest in becoming surgeons, practitioners, nurses and ultrasound technicians with people in those fields to take a closer look at their jobs.

Then this past summer, St. Francis held SCRUBS Camp, where teens explored a variety of specialties in the health field. Perry said the camp was so popular that the volunteer office decided to offer SCRUBS U as a quarterly program to be more in-depth. Because each class will offer information about different areas of treatment, they don't have to attend all four. Perry encourages students to read up on the subject matter before signing up for any of them, and to go only to the classes they are most interested in. "This was for students who were interested in medical jobs, especially nursing because of the nursing shortage," she said. "These are the kids that know they want to be in health care somehow, but they don't know what or how."

Thirty-seven of those interested ones went to last week's inaugural class, which focused on neonatology services. The abundance of girls wasn't unusual because that field draws a higher number of females, according to Perry. They were split into groups and traveled to four different areas: the delivery room, nursery, recovery room and ultrasound.

Perry said teenagers in the class traveled from as far away as St. George, Summerville and Adams Run to attend.

Courtney Mims, a freshman at Fort Dorchester High, said after taking in all the information about the neonatal field, she was curious about certain aspects, such as how the placenta works.

"The one that really jumped out at me was when we went to the nursery," said Camerun Washington, a seventh-grader from Sangaree Middle. "I think that might be another career choice if neonatology doesn't work out."

He said seeing a real umbilical cord and placenta made him a little lightheaded, but he is still interested in the subject matter.

Other students were more flippant about what they saw.

"Kind of makes me want to go vegetarian," Amanda Rozier, a student at James Island Charter High School, said after seeing the placenta up close.

Reach Sophia Rodriguez at 937-5538 or srodriguez@postandcourier.com.

Copyright © 1997 - 2007 the Evening Post Publishing Co.