SAMUEL MERRITT UNIVERSITY
JULY 10 - 21, 2017
With more adolescents growing interested in the healthcare field, FACES Summer Medical Academy (FSMA) was created to expose high school students to the field of medicine, nursing, and allied professions. This year’s Academy was a huge success. High school students all over the Bay Area, from Fremont to San Francisco and all the way up to Vallejo, were able to take part in this one of a kind summer enrichment experience.
In partnership with Samuel Merritt University, FACES for the Future Coalition hosted 45 scholars from July 10-21, 2017 to provide a unique lens for high schoolers to view the current health care field. The main takeaways we heard from our students were:
In our first week, students were mentored by numerous health professionals and received a crash course on various clinical skills including: taking vitals, immunizations, and IV placement. Some proved much harder than others – especially intubation!
"I have learned so much about different medical fields and have done so many hands on activities that I never thought I’d do. I believe this experience will really set me up for my future in healthcare and as a person through asking questions and being curious."
Students had many opportunities to meet and talk to professionals holding various roles in the healthcare field. They were able to hear from a team of emergency medical technicians and were fascinated with the high-pressure situations EMTs face every day. The students also took a field trip to UCSF School of Medicine where they met with current medical students and learned about the long but fulfilling road to becoming a doctor. Our FSMA scholars were also introduced to nurses, doctors, physician’s assistants, pathologists, global health workers, and much more.
"This experience really changed the way I look at others around me and especially the people going through the health care system. It has taught me compassion, understanding, patience, ethics, and decision making. And I learned that I have the skills I need to make a good physician."
Many of our workshops taught skills that a doctor needs, but doesn’t necessarily learn in an orthodox classroom– one being cultural competency. An example of that is our Patient-Centered Care Workshop where students role-played as doctors in very sensitive patient situations. This challenged many assumptions that students had about communication and compassion in a patient setting. Students commented on how this was an extremely eye-opening experience for them.
"My experience at FSMA has challenged me to be open to new experiences and to explore areas of the medical field I did not know much about. I am usually very quiet and shy when around strangers, but through this program, I was able to step into a leadership role when necessary and participate in ways that are beyond my comfort zone."
