High School Students Explore Healthcare Careers at Trinitas Regional Medical Center Nursing Camp
Third year of program offers educational experience

Trinitas Regional Medical Center offered public and private students a summer learning experience that gives new meaning to "How I Spent my Summer Vacation."

Forty students from public and private high schools in Elizabeth and surrounding Union County towns participated in four sessions of the hospital's third summer Nursing Camp. The four one-week sessions gave students a deep immersion into daily activities in health care careers throughout the Hospital. Each session kicked-off with an orientation to the hospital setting, providing an introduction to medical terms as well as presentations from staff members from Physical Therapy, Endoscopy, Maternal and Child Health, and Respiratory Therapy. The students also toured Radiology, the Operating Room, the Emergency Department, and Renal Services before two mornings of exposure to activities on the hospital's nursing units.

As they "shadowed" staff on nursing units, the students observed various levels of patient care delivered in the Emergency Department and the Intensive Care Unit as well as all Medical/
Surgical Nursing Units.

Lisa Liss, Director of Volunteer Services who developed the program along with Patricia Haydu, RN, MA, Adjunct Faculty, Trinitas Regional Medical Center Education Department, said the program has offered high school students learning experiences that have been helpful in career decision-making. Pat Haydu, who works extensively with Elizabeth High School students enrolled in vocational training programs that bring them into the Hospital throughout the school year, also mentored the Nursing Camp students.

"Not only do the students have the chance to assist nurses with patient care," noted Lisa, "but they also benefit from the perspectives of veteran nurses who share their experiences in the field."

For example, Mary Ann Mimnaugh, RN, in the Same Day Unit, shared some of her 30-plus years of experience with Jasmine McDuffie of Union High School. As the youngest student in the final session, Jasmine learned about dramatic changes in nursing over the past three decades as Mary Ann explained how nurses no longer need to actually sharpen hypodermic needles as they were once required to do. The veteran nurse also told the sophomore about how high-tech monitoring advances now enable nurses to be more efficient in patient care. Jasmine also thought that the chance to observe a surgery was "pretty exciting."

Brittany Bynum of Abraham Clark High School in Roselle and Estefania Cabezas of Elizabeth High School "shadowed" medical residents as they reviewed patient progress in the Intensive Care Unit while on daily rounds with Vipin Garg, MD, Academic Chief of Pulmonary Medicine at Trinitas Regional Medical Center who is also the Medical Director of the Trinitas Regional Medical Center Comprehensive Sleep Disorders Center. Bynum explained she had the opportunity to help a nurse as she drew blood, adding, "I even had the chance to listen with a stethoscope as a patient ingested fluid."

As senior Elvis Urena "shadowed" Ramon Benjamino, CCRN, he gained insight into intensive care nursing. "Nursing Camp gave greater meaning to the nursing courses I take at Union High School," adding, "I learned a lot about the hospital setting, the different monitors that are used, and the complexity of patient care. It was a great program and I'm glad I could participate."

The Trinitas Regional Medical Center Nursing Camp program was made available through a grant from Bank of America and an anonymous donor to the hospital's Volunteer Department.

For information and an application for our summer 2007 camp please call Lisa Liss, Director, Volunteer Services at 908-994-5164.  Must be a resident of Union County to attend.