Health campers test surgery skills at Memorial

The School to Career Partnership is a day camp program for students heading into grades 7-9. Seven different camps are offered during July, and they are free this summer due to ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding for the Conway School District because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The camps run Monday-Friday for roughly seven hours each day.

“When I took over as coordinator, there were only three or four camps, and now we’re up to seven or eight each summer,” said Joe Riddensdale, who oversees the CAD (Computer-Aided Design) and STEM Aviation program at Kennett High School, and is in his 10th year as the camp’s program director.

Riddensdale said space at the camps, which traditionally attract 14-21 participants, was reduced to a maximum of 14 kids each due to COVID.

They are designed to introduce students to the variety of career opportunities available in the valley, he said. “It’s a great lead-in to what we offer at the high school.”

Health camp, which is sponsored by Memorial Hospital, is the longest-running and most popular camp, with a full enrollment for each of the past 19 years. Due to COVID-19, the camp was reduced in size by about a third.

It takes a village to pull off a health camp, and helping out last week were a platoon of people, including Memorial Hospital President Art Mathisen; nurse practitioner Mary Vigeant; registered nurses Pam Bormann, Betsy Koplin, Erika Roy, Leigh Copsey, Shauna Ross, Molly Greenwood, Jessica Larkin and Julia Kalina; certified surgical technologist Christina Richardson; respiratory therapist Jessica Burke; medical emergency team member Paul Gagne; certified medical assistant Michelle Grant; registered radiologist assistant Sam Yalenezian; certified nursing assistant Phoebe Rand; and paramedic Nate Phillip.

Plus there was Jackson Police Chief Chris Perley; athletic trainer Colby Locke of Mountain Center Physical Therapy; administrative coordinator Barbara Rosman; medical assistant Bethlynn Wilson; and physician assistant Lisa Cushing, along with representatives from North Country Dental, SOLO, Action Ambulance, Mineral Springs, North Conway Fire Department and White Mountain Community Health Center.

The week started out in Kennett’s Health Science Technology classroom, where on Monday campers played medical bingo and Pictionary, learned how to take blood pressure and pulses, and enjoyed a presentation on remote medical practice in Haiti and Zambia given by Paul MacMillan of SOLO (Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities, the world’s oldest continuously operating school of wilderness medicine).

On Tuesday, the campers went to SOLO on Tasker Hill Road, where they were trained in the Stop the Bleed program (how to stop bleeding in a severely injured person) and how to do a litter carry-out (which was among the week’s highlights for the campers), and they also became CPR certified.

Wednesday was a full day at Memorial, where the campers learned how to give injections; got an obstetrician presentation; learned how a pharmacy operates; got to change the dressing on wounds and even had casts made; had lunch with Mathisen; got a presentation from the radiology department; got their taken casts off; and got to experience the operating room.

Thursday, physical therapist Locke showed them the ins and outs of sports medicine. The campers learned about physical and occupational therapy from Mineral Springs staff; about nutrition from Donna Dixon; learned about the iron deficiency through the Iron Fish program at the White Mountain Community Health Center; and were taught about the different blood types.

Finally, it was Friday, when the campers got to test their suturing skills on some chicken thighs bought at Hannaford.

Nurse practitioner Hirschfeld, who confessed, “I love to suture,” showed the campers “the hardest way” to suture because “the easier one isn’t nearly as fun.”

“You guys are going to be able to make quilts when we’re done,” joked Ramsey, who praised the campers for their stitchwork, adding, “You’re hired.”

“It’s a lot more difficult than it looks on TV,” said camper Calla Battenfelder.

Fellow camper Aspen Hazelwood enthused that suturing “was a highlight” of her week.

Battenfelder and Hazelwood, along with campers Noelle French, Zach Rossman, Elise Dunn and Lilly Killourie and counselor Corey Genest took part in the first suturing group.

Riddensdale said the opening week of the camp program was a “huge success. It’s gone great,” he said. “We had a great group of campers.”

Coding camp, which is in its fourth year, runs this week through Friday. Daniel Mack, computer science teacher at Kennett High, is running this camp, which is sponsored by the MWV Masonic Angel Fund and is designed to give students an idea of how small devices are built.

Campers are learning how to program robots using sensors with the Python programming language, as well as how to wire and program devices using Arduino micro boards, LED lights, sensors and more. The campers are also learning how to create toys.

This week also marks the third year of the FAA ACE Camp for STEM Aviation. The Federal Aviation Administration has given this camp its highest seal of approval, and campers have always given the weeklong experience two enthusiastic thumbs up.

The camp, sponsored by the Dearborn Foundation, on Tuesday, will see the campers visiting the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease. The National Guard will give them a tour of their operations, and they’ll also get to go up in the control tower. On Wednesday, they’ll welcome a Chinook helicopter to the Eastern Slope Regional Airport in Fryeburg, Maine.On Thursday, the campers go to Franconia for glider rides, and on Friday, they’ll take to the sky for airplane flights in Fryeburg

New this year is SeaPerch Camp, which runs July 19-23. Sponsored by the UNH Cooperative Extension and Carroll County 4H, it will have campers building, testing and modifying their underwater ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) and then running them through obstacle courses.

Also new this year is the STEM Mars Exploration Camp sponsored by the Conway Public Library. It runs July 26-30 and still has a few openings.

“Conway, we’ve got a problem,” a description of the camp states. “Humanity needs help planning their next mission to Mars, and this is just the camp to do it! Learn how to use a 3-D printer, VEX robots and more to launch a rocket to Mars, collect samples to send home and even establish a Martian colony.”

Game Design Camp makes its debut July 26-30. Sponsored by The Valley Originals, it still has s few openings.

“What is a game,” the camp description asks. “What does it mean to play? This camp is designed to answer these questions and more. During this camp, we look at what it means to be a game designer. This camp will focus on board tabletop and card games. Young designers will create their very own game by the end of camp.”

Anyone interested in one of these camps should contact Joe Riddensdale at mwvschooltocareer@gmail.com or call (207) 890-6558.