Kiri Mathews walks up to a table that contains a syringe,
catheter, wire and stent. She slips on a pair of rubber gloves and
starts preparing the equipment to place a stent in someone’s
artery.

But Kiri is not in the medical profession; she’s not even a high
school graduate. What she is, however, is a 15-year-old
participating in the area’s first Health Career Camp this week at
the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

“It’s great,” Kiri said Thursday morning of the camp. “It lets
you explore what type of medicine you’d be interested in.

The 15-year-old from DuBois wants to be an obstetrician.

Her desk partner, Megan Truman, 15, of Bradford, is interested
in anesthesiology or pharmacy.

All were equally excited about what the camp had to offer,
including job shadowing employees at Bradford Regional Medical
Center on Wednesday.

“We spent the whole day at the hospital,” Megan said.

Kiri and Megan were not alone.

“I liked it,” Macy Rupprecht said of the week, especially the
job shadowing. The 16-year-old from St. Marys is interested in
becoming a radiologist.

Those girls were part of a group of 17 boys and girls who
received scholarships to attend the camp, which is co-sponsored by
the Northwest Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center, North
Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning & Developmental
Commission, Bradford Regional Medical Center and University of
Pittsburgh at Bradford.

Showing students what’s opportunities they have in the medical
profession is just one of the reasons for the camp.

“We are getting kids from Pennsylvania exposed to the medical
field,” Jean Truman, an assistant professor of nursing at
Pitt-Bradford and a nursing supervisor at BRMC, said. “And hope
they stay in Pennsylvania.”

Truman, along with Jill Fuller, an assistant professor of
nursing at Pitt-Bradford, and Beth Price, education coordinator at
BRMC, were involved in running the camp.

Truman said there was a need for such a camp in rural
Pennsylvania, including this area.

“It just makes sense,” Truman said of how the camp shows the
students what is required for different medical disciplines, tell
them what classes they should take in high school as well as what
is required for them to attain the job of their choice.

“Hopefully they will come back and serve Pennsylvania,” she
said.

On Thursday, Ann Payne, the lead vascular technician at BRMC,
spoke with the students about interventional procedures, including
balloons and stents.

“I think this is great,” she said of the camp. “I wish there was
something like this when I was younger.

“In the medical field, there’s a lot more out there than doctors
and nurses.”

The students were also given hands-on experience earlier in the
week as medical professionals, including Dr. James Mancini, a
dentist at the McKean County Dental Center; Dr. Steven Herrmann,
cardiologist; and Dr. Gary Malacarne, director of pharmacy, who
showed the students what they do.

They also went to BRMC on Wednesday to job shadow throughout the
facility – operating room and anesthesiology, nursing, occupational
therapy and respiratory therapy.

They also have attended professional and sensitivity training
classes.

What the students learned throughout the week will come to a
climax today when they present medical cases they have
researched.

The students broke off into groups and were given a “patient” to
focus their attention. They then had to determine what the symptoms
were, what tests they were going to use to diagnose the patient,
what people were going to be involved in the diagnosis and how the
patient will be treated.

“It’s a lot of research, but it’s fun,” Kiri said.