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Job lets teens see future in medicine
By THERESA BLACKWELL
© St. Petersburg Times, CLEARWATER -- It was Sunday morning in the emergency room at Morton Plant Hospital. Greg Horsman pulled the privacy curtain around the bed and approached a patient, Viola Shurie of Niagara Falls, Ontario. He introduced himself and said, "I'm going to do an EKG on you. Have you ever had an EKG before?"
He studied the waves from her heart on the monitor and made a couple of printouts. But Horsman is not a doctor -- or a nurse. Horsman, 17, of Clearwater, a recent graduate of Palm Harbor University High School's medical magnet program, is a nurse helper. He's one of 27 students hired in December 2000 to work for Morton Plant Mease Health Care. Under the program, students in high schools from Seminole north to New Port Richey were hired to help nurses in Morton Plant, Mease Dunedin, Mease Countryside and North Bay hospitals. The goal: to get students interested in medical careers while lightening the load for nursing staffs. Darlene Davis, the director of development and practice in educational services for Morton Plant Mease Health Care, came up with the idea for nurse helpers when a co-worker mentioned her daughter's job at a local grocery store. It occurred to Davis that high school students could be working in the hospital. "We have a need for nurses, the nurses need some help, and we're willing to support that," Davis said. Eight of the first hires were from Palm Harbor University High School's medical magnet. "Palm Harbor was a perfect place to get started," Davis said, "because their students are already trained in the medical aspects and have a desire to practice." From there, the position was opened up to any student who has finished the ninth grade, can work as part of a team and has an interest in nursing or medical careers. Students work part time during the school year and some work full time in the summer. * * * What nurse helpers do depends partly on where they work in the hospital. Anna Mayberry of Palm Harbor, 18, is a recent graduate of the Palm Harbor medical magnet. She's a nurse helper at Mease Countryside Hospital, working with cardiac and respiratory patients. "I make beds -- lots and lots of beds," Mayberry said. But she also takes care of patients: feeding them, helping them walk and assisting with other basic care. The staff also taught her to put four patches on patient's chests and connect them to a heart monitor called a telemetry box that sends signals back to the nurses' desk. Horsman does some of the same things in the ER, though transporting patients is a bigger part of the job. He sees death often, helping to put the deceased in body bags and moving them to a transfer room.And emergency room staff members have trained him to do EKGs. "Sometimes, it can get a little boring," Horsman said. "But other times, I'm just running around." On one Saturday afternoon in the ER at Morton Plant Hospital, the staff was fully engaged and the waiting room was packed. Patients were there mainly for heart emergencies, strokes and physical mishaps. Between assignments, he waited at the nurses' station for orders. "The man on bed 10 has to go." "Take a sandwich to the woman... ." "Make a copy of... ." "I'm cold. Can you bring me a blanket?" a woman asked. Horsman did EKGs, escorted a man to the mental health unit and transported a patient for testing. He wheeled a woman in a bed to her hospital room. "Can I have a bed by the window?" she asked as they entered the room. "No, I'm sorry," he answered. "But you get a bed by the bathroom." When he returned to the ER, much of the staff was working in a tense knot at one bed. As the group shifted, a toddler's legs were visible on the near side of the bed. Hovering at the edge of the crowd, Horsman waited, ready to help. * * * Working as a nurse helper has been a good experience, Horsman said. Tammy Harms, a registered nurse in the Morton Plant ER, agreed. "If you can be exposed to what you're exposed to in the ER, then you can deal with anything," she said. "It's a steppingstone for him." Harms said Horsman shows sincere interest, asks questions and takes it all in. "He's a wonderful helper," said Katie O'Connor, a patient care technician. "Most find the nurse helpers to be an extra pair of hands," said Debbie Covert, an education specialist for Morton Plant Mease Health Care, who manages the nurse helper program. "They allow nurses to get to the extra things they don't have time for -- like handing out hot, wet washcloths or sitting with patients who are confused, to prevent falls." Horsman said he will start college at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville in the fall, probably majoring in biology. His ambition is to work as a cardiologist, a virologist or, maybe, an ER doctor. To learn moreFor information about working as a nurse helper in Pinellas County, call Beth Endright at Morton Plant Mease Health Care at 734-6489.
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