HOWARD – East Knox Elementary second-grader Colt Keyes knows for sure that Principal Melissa Moreland has a heart.
He used a stethoscope – yes, a real one – during Friday’s health care career expo at the school. Sponsored jointly by Knox Community Hospital and the Knox County Career Center, it was the county’s first-ever such program at the elementary level.
“We had two goals: Make health care not so scary and show the children that health care involves a lot more than doctors and nurses,” said Hanna Ford, a KCH employment specialist.
Ford arranged the expo with Carmen Yarman, also a KCH employment specialist, and Shelly Laslo, a career connections educator at the career center.
Throughout the gymnasium, music room and library, 30 KCH employees donated their time to engross students in a dozen sessions that ranged from lab work and radiology to blood pressure monitoring and care for lifelike dolls in the birthing area. Several of the sites offered interactive, hands-on opportunities appropriate for separate visits by three age groups.
Members of the Eastern Knox County Joint Fire District parked an ambulance outside the gym and talked to students inside about emergency medical care.
“We had K, 1 and 2 students in first, then brought in grades 3. 4 and 5,” Ford said. “Sixth-graders came by themselves so we could provide more detailed information in each area. Sixth-graders also got to complete a practice employment application in one of 10 health care fields.”
Several days before the expo Ford visited the school to take swabs from the mouths of two anonymous students, plus swabs of their hands and the bottom of their shoes.
“I took them back to the hospital where we grew cultures and preserved them. We brought them back today,” Ford said.
Brittany Day, a KCH medical lab scientist, used the cultures – encased in clear plastic – to demonstrate the presence of bacteria. On another side of the music room a KCH radiologist showed images of toys and asked the younger students to identify them.
Laslo is in her second full year at the career center.
“Manufacturing and health care are the two largest employers in Knox County and two key employment areas designated by the state,” she said. “My job is to work with younger kids to stimulate interest. In kindergarten through fifth grade the emphasis is on an awareness of health care careers. In grades six, seven and eight, I emphasize a more detailed explanation of those careers.”
Moreland stressed that Laslo’s efforts are directly related to academic standards.
“We’re so appreciative of Shelly’s work,” Moreland said. “I met with her several times prior to today’s expo. Her work is 100 percent tied to our curriculum and grade-level standards.”