Future 'superheroes'
The kindergartners and first-graders enrolled in The Supers camp at Butler County Community College's 22nd annual Kids on Campus program spent Tuesday morning learning how modern superheroes — commonly known as nurses — are trained.
“Does it turn on?” one camper asked about a dummy “patient” laying in a hospital bed in the BC3 nursing department's training lab.
“Is that real blood?” another camper said of the tube connected to a fake arm that teaches nursing students how to start an intravenous line.
“That baby looks weird,” yet another camper commented regarding the dummy baby in the lab.
All these questions and comments were taken in stride by former Children's Hospital nurse Julia Carney, the assistant dean of nursing at BC3, who passed out stethoscopes so the 12 campers could check the tickers in the lab dummies.
“Our superheroes learn by listening to each other's hearts, so you can listen to each other's too,” Carney told the tiny medics.She informed the campers that in years past, nurses wore capes as part of their uniforms, much like today's superheroes.Carney, a natural with the curious and energetic children, also encouraged the campers to peruse the group pictures of each year's nursing graduates hanging on the department walls.“Go ahead, look at all our superheroes,” she said.Because she let slip that some dummy patients have mechanical features, Carney invited the campers into an adjacent lab, so they could see a fake patient breathing, coughing and opening her eyes.Some campers bravely walked up to the “patient's” bedside, others nervously held a friend's hand, some stood in the doorway and others cowered outside in the hallway.“It's not scary,” Carney said. “All it is, is a robot.”Eva Lowerre, Kids on Campus coordinator, accompanied the Supers to the nursing department after gently reminding them to use quiet voices inside the BC3 buildings.She said Supers participants enjoy movie and comic book superheroes, but the camp is meant to teach them that many average members of society fit that description.Lowerre said the group planned to visit BC3's Fire Rescue and Hazmat Training department and would enjoy a visit Thursday by state police Trooper Jim Long of Troop D in Butler.“He'll talk to them and show them his police car,” she said.Asked why nurses are superheroes as they visited the nursing department at BC3 on Tuesday, the young campers showed they got the message.“Because they take good care of you,” several campers said.The Kids on Campus program was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and is operating at about one-third capacity this year, Lowerre said.She said, normally, about 200 youths from across the county participate. This year, only about 60 students were accepted.
