If you find yourself paying close attention to every detail of a doctor’s movements during a hospital visit, or watching medical dramas like the iconic show “Grey’s Anatomy,” and even watching hauls online of medical workers showing off their new scrubs, it’s safe to say you might be interested in medicine. We all know that this career can be tempting with its difficulty or maybe you knew you wanted a career in the medical field from an early age. Of course with determination and courage, anything is possible if you work for it.
What is HCC?
It’s a great thing that Middle College High School has an afterschool program called HCC, short for Health Career Collaborative. What’s really special about this program is that we are one of three schools to have it from all over California. HCC is a partnership with Doctors 4 Diversity at UCI Medical School and UC Irvine Medical Center. This program is staffed by volunteer medical students and medical professionals to help provide low-income high schools opportunities to explore different career paths in the medical field.
HCC has a powerful mission for Middle College High School students. They target mentorship, engaging healthcare curriculum, and exposure to health careers for us students. Their goal is to empower students to identify the most pressing health needs in their community and engage students in community-based health promotion activities. They also engage students in project-based learning with a focus on science and health care related issues. For example, they had a meeting on how to stop a bleeding wound, with actual models of open wounds and an emergent CAT tourniquet to test out. They have meetings both in-person and online each month to teach students a diverse range of health-related career pathways. Joining HCC is the perfect place to start off your medical career dreams. By the end of the year, you will receive a certificate that may be used on your AVID community service/college and career exploration requirement. On top of all the fun opportunities they provide, they recently had a field trip last Friday at the UCI Medical Center. Here you will find some insights from HCC’s field trip.
Inside UCI Medical Center: Achievements and milestones
The UC Irvine Medical Center was founded in 1965 and ever since has shown hard work and dedication from its healthcare workers. It’s located in Orange, California, and is open 24 hours (just in case of an emergency). Over the years, this medical center has been awarded many recognitions. This includes being named the top hospital of 2023 by the Leapfrog Group. This is a huge achievement because the Leapfrog Group (founded in 2000) is known all across the country for granting the most competitive awards that American hospitals can achieve. What’s more impressive is that the UCI Medical Center got this recognition from the 132 hospitals selected. This can help us understand the high-quality health care that patients receive here. Not only have they received this recognition, but they have been awarded many more like its fifth Magnet recognition, which showcases their dedication to high-quality nursing practice. They were the first academic medical center in Southern California and the first hospital in Orange County to receive Magnet designation. These are just two of the many accomplishments they have.
Overview of the field trip
Now let’s jump right into the field trip. We started off with a 12 minute bus ride to the medical center. Right away we were welcomed by the staff and introduced to the gorgeous campus. For a medical center, they really know how to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We waltz right into an auditorium where they discuss the stations we will be visiting and teams we will follow.
I was grouped with team 3, where we had a tour of the whole place and had a glimpse of some operating and patient rooms while the other teams visited other stations. I found it very interesting because many of the rooms looked very sophisticated compared to a normal hospital room. They had many technology devices all over the place that helped with taking your blood pressure and more. A kind surgeon, Dr. Barrios, talked about his job and explained to us the use of each tool.
After our tour around the building, we moved on to our next station. However, we took a quick pause to snack on the most delicious treats– they were to die for. A fan favorite seemed to be the red velvet cupcakes, disappearing instantly. I’ll never forget that irresistible cream cheese frosting. Once our break ended, we sat inside the auditorium from the beginning of the field trip. This time we were playing Jeopardy, where the 1st place winner was given a UCI mascot plushie, while 2nd and 3rd got UCI stickers.
The game had questions revolving around biology, cardiology, neuroscience, and more. I would say that this part of the trip was quite intimidating, as I was clueless of some of the questions. However, over time I got used to answering out loud and accepted failure when I didn’t know the answer. Some of the questions were a little too advanced for me, but credit to those who thrived. It’s safe to say I was really impressed– it was the perfect motivation for me to dig deeper into my studies and grow my knowledge. In the end, I won 3rd place and was given some really cute stickers that I’m still pondering over where to place them.
Afterward, we walked to our last station; this was by far my favorite experience because we were able to do hands-on experiences. This included learning how to tie a knot for securing sutures or closing incisions. Although, my favorite part was learning how to suture an open wound (a fancy way to say, how to stitch up a wound). I learned that knowing how to do this was crucial because it helps bring all the layers of tissue together, allowing a damaged wound to begin healing. We were given a suture tissue pad (a replica of the skin with wounds), instruments, like surgical tweezers, a needle holder, and thread with a needle at the tip to poke through the skin.
Next, we practiced laparoscopic surgical training; this was by far the most interesting. It felt almost like playing a video game, with all the precision and coordination required. This activity involved using a laparoscopic tool; think of it as a surgeon’s telescope, allowing them to navigate through the body with precision– just like an explorer using a map to find their way through land. We had to look through the monitor the entire time while moving circular rings on pegs. It reminded me a lot of the toys we used to play with as children, where we had different colored cones and rings, and the goal was to move them around or stack them. The purpose of this activity was to learn how to perform procedures within the abdomen, providing advantages like smaller scars and a quicker recovery for the patient. Personally, the difficult part was passing the circular ring to the other rod. At first, it seemed easy when the medical student performed it, but I judged too quickly. I seemed to forget that my hands were controlling it, as I kept dropping the rings and tossing them out of the monitor view. Still to this day, I don’t know where they went.
We’ve now reached the end where everyone reunited back in the auditorium. The kind doctors and medical students gave their final speech and answered the many questions students asked. They also covered their own journey in the medical field. Shockingly, some weren’t sure if they wanted to pursue medicine, as they had originally envisioned other careers. Nonetheless, others knew they wanted to study this career from the start. They talked about their journey of studying and how you can still have fun in college. While yes, you do need to focus and study for your classes and quizzes, it’s more lively once you finish your exams. I really appreciated how they also discussed the challenges of their studies. I learned that even if you’re rejected, you should keep pushing forward and never let that be an excuse to give up, because better opportunities might come your way afterward.
Finally, the field trip came to an end, everyone grabbed their final snacks on the way out and said their goodbyes. Before we left, everyone was given a goodie bag with candy inside, all colored blue and yellow to represent the colors of UCI, and we took a group picture before the bus took us back to school.
Thoughts and takeaways: Staff and students share their views
Now let’s dive into the mind of Tania Saba Pettitt, the coordinator of the field trip. Pettitt was kind enough to answer some questions about HCC and its plans to grow as a program.
Pettitt mentioned her goals and objectives for the students who attended the field trip at the UC Irvine Medical Center.
“I think we wanted to provide the students with a broad overview of what hospital life was like and also tacking on the objectives of the program and highlighting all the things that the students have learned so far. As well, as exposure to hands-on training in the lab, like the suture and the laparoscopic lab,” Pettitt said.
I mean, how lucky are Middle College students to have a program, along with three schools in California and an amazing coordinator like Pettitt to expand our knowledge in the medical field.
She also shared her hopes and aspirations for the students after attending the field trip, along with future plans.
“I wanted the students to have an exposure to all the different aspects in the hospital and really see them. Like providing the ability to play in the lab, as well as learning from all the med-students and faculty about different careers in healthcare. We also want to build our program more, we love our Middle College High School students, and we want to develop a program that’s more robust, including plans for next year and more sessions. Maybe even a field trip as well, at the end of the year. We’re also hoping that our last session in May will be an ultrasound training session, as well as passing out certificates to those who completed the program,” Pettitt said.
Junior Stephanie Camino shared her insights on the field trip, including her experiences.
“Honestly, it was really amazing, I love it. Overall, it was super fun to get to know the place. We got to see how the professionals got to work with the patients. I just felt like I was an expert, by seeing firsthand what was happening. It was overall really nice to get to know more about the medical field. And oh my gosh, we also saw someone in the surgery room. However, we couldn’t cross a red line that separated the hallways and entrances, but we could see the door open where there were surgeons and a patient on the bed.” Camino said.
Camino confessed that she wasn’t too interested in the medical field from the start, but she wanted to expand her horizons; however, she does recommend joining HCC for students interested in medicine.
“Even before this, I didn’t really want to go into the medical field. The only reason I went was to expand my horizons. But, I think it would be perfect for people interested in the medical field. Extracurriculars are so important, especially if you want to go into the medical field. Join HCC at our school, so you can get these types of experiences,” Camino said.
Senior Jamie Gallegos also shared her thoughts and opinions on the field trip.
“I think it was really fun; we got to see a lot of things and see a hospital firsthand. I think the most interesting thing I learned was suturing and how the doctor taught us to tie a knot. Everything looked really advanced. And I’ll probably take this into my future career because I want to try to get into nursing. Knowing how the hospitals and medical fields look like gives me a better idea of what a future setting will look like,” Gallegos said.
Going back to what Pettitt mentioned, HCC will only continue to grow stronger next year, so if you’re interested, I definitely recommend checking it out. Whether you’re an incoming freshman or becoming a senior next year, it’s never too early or too late to start. On the other hand, you can also ask Mrs. Campoverde for more info about joining this year or the next. Make sure to follow their Instagram at hcc.mchs for news and updates.
Overall, it seemed like everyone had an amazing time on the field trip. I know I did, especially those red velvet cupcakes, that can’t seem to leave my mind. I would definitely recommend this program to students who are curious about medicine; it’s perfect for exploring different kinds of careers in the medical field and having hands-on courses.
