(above) Union High School students spend National Doctor’s Day as junior doctors.
Union High School Allied Health Students Participate in National Doctor’s Day
Union High School Allied Health students celebrated National Doctor’s Day on March 29, 2019. The day serves to honor and celebrate the hard work of doctors everywhere. It also recognizes their contributions to society and communities. This holiday can be traced back to March 30, 1933. This is when Doctor’s Day was first observed in Winder, Georgia. It was originally started by Eudora Brown Almond, the wife of a prominent Georgian doctor, who wanted to create a day just for recognizing and honoring doctors.
Students in the Allied Health program came to school dressed in scrubs and ready to work as junior doctors. With the direction of their teacher Ms. Grace Mitchko, they completed a field day and participated in doctor inspired activities and games. Activities included completing patient history and physicals, as well as hospital intakes and discharges. While blindfolded, students identified specific structures and placed paper scalpels and needles on real 3D medical models, in a “pin the medical device on the body” game. Students also used playdough to reconstruct patient faces, working hard to replicate relevant muscles and tissues in a “forensic lab” activity. Games such as “Operation” and “Anatomy Flux” were also on hand for the day.
The students had a great time and were inspired to learn more about the field of medicine. One Student, Karina Tenecela stated “Doctors day is very meaningful to many people and to be apart of it was a great experience and an honor.” Jordan Princess Wilburn added “Doctor’s day was a very informational day that taught me the things that a doctor goes through on a day to day basis.”
Yvonne Lorenzo, Supervisor of the Career Education program stated “We are extremely excited about the growth and development of this program. Ms. Mitchko has made amazing progress since her arrival here in October. In addition to the physical changes she has made to the classroom, we are working together to increase the rigor of the program and to provide more educational options for our students. I am looking forward to the potential expansion of this program and what it can mean to our students interested in a career in the medical field.”
Overall the day was a filled with opportunities for fun as well as learning. “It was very fun and interesting,” said student Kendra Nealy “I learned a lot from this day.”
Instructor Ms. Mitchko stated “It is important to honor the contributions of doctors everywhere; hosting Doctor’s Day allows students to stop and think about the contributions that have been made to society by this group of professionals. The students are ecstatic about and are already planning nurses day. We will continue to learn about and highlight more healthcare careers, as it is always important to appreciate the selfless hard work healthcare professionals undertake as they care for the population.”
Submitted by Akua Boakye
Photos by Township of Union Public Schools
