This week, UnityPoint Health’s Trinity College of Nursing & Health Sciences is hosting its annual Healthcare Experience Summer Camp. The five day camp provides high school students with experience in health care, allowing students to learn hands-on in a safe environment. 

Tracy Poelvoorde, Trinity College’s chancellor, said students participate in patient simulation scenarios, such as the high-fidelity simulation (HFS), practicing healthcare checks and skills on computer-operated manikins. 

“They (the manikins) can speak, they can breathe, they can cough, and they can sweat,” Poelvoorde said. “Their pupils, when students shine lights on them, they react as if they were a human pupil.” 

She said the manikins are controlled by Trinity faculty members. 

“The student can also come in and talk to that manikin before they actually talk to someone who may be critically ill,” Poelvoorde said. “That can be a very intimidating thing to do for someone who has never done it before, and that alone is an art to learn in itself.” 

Brooklyn Evans, a rising junior at Davenport North High School, said the manikins were more “lifelike” and “realistic” than she ever could have imagined. 

“I think it’s an amazing experience (for me) going into healthcare because you can see it on something that you can make mistakes with, with it still being safe for everyone,” Evans said. 

New this year, Poelvoorde said students will also practice taking X-rays in a brand new energized radiography lab. 

“What that means is students go in and they’re not pretending to take an X-ray, they now are actually taking X-rays with a piece of equipment that is hooked into a digital system,” she said. 

Poelvoorde said student will X-ray, what Trinity calls “phantoms” that replicate body parts with an “obvious pathology” to learn how to review X-ray films. 

She said Trinity is also in the process of obtaining a full-body phantom, for students to utilize as well. The energized radiography lab will be available at the college this fall. 

On Monday, the first day of camp, Poelvoorde said students mainly focus on learning the basics, such as patients’ privacy and rights. After that, she said students will be in full scrubs and assigned a nurse, which they will shadow throughout the duration of the camp. 

Evans said she appreciates Trinity’s attention to “the little things”, such as safety protocol and proper handwashing technique. 

“Touching on things early on, like what gowns you wear for patients in isolation, is the best so everyone can learn and remember going forward,” she said.

The 16-year-old said she recently graduated from CNA school, and she didn’t know about Trinity’s summer camp until it was advertised at her high school. 

Poelvoorde said this year’s camp will serve a little under 20 students, from high schools in the Quad-Cities area. She said in total, Trinity received 47 student camp applications. 

Olivia Szpek, a rising junior at Sherrard High School said she also found out about Trinity’s program through school. Szpek said she plans to also obtain her CNA license next year. 

One activity Szpek said she has completed so far is taking vitals, including blood pressure and pulse rates. 

“I’m looking forward into immersing myself into the world of health care and the experiences this camp brings,” she said. “Being able to further prepare myself for college, but also the working world.” 

Szpek said she was currently interested in pediatric health, but she is looking forward to experiencing a variety of healthcare careers. 

Poelvoorde said career exploration is the whole goal behind Trinity’s summer camp. 

“It’s a time for exploration,” she said. “It is really for the students to see what healthcare is all about, what the industry is like, and what the professionals are like. Although we can show you all of this stuff at our college, the other half of it is our healthcare workers that are welcoming students and want to share their love and their passion for the profession with them.”