The 30th class of Youth Leadership Kearney began their Health and Life Beyond High School day at CHI Health Good Samaritan Hospital on August 21, 2024. The day started with a presentation on fundraising for the hospital and a general introduction to what they do by Cindi Richter and Lindsy Zechmann. Afterward, the students split into two groups, the first going to the morgue and the second to a tour of the operating room area.
In the morgue, YLK members were shown different organs, both healthy and diseased. Dr. Tyler Schwartz described disease states that could occur in the brain, lungs, kidneys, and several other internal organs.
On the tour of the operating section, Kim Swails spoke about the different operations Good Samaritan can perform and showed the preparation rooms. She then led members into a meeting room where they were able to watch a surgical procedure as it happened.
Soon after the groups combined and went up to the Helipad where Kevin Vickers and the other flight nurses on shift let students go inside a medical helicopter as well as answer any questions kids may have had.
Next the group met at the UNK Bruner Hall of Science and did several activities that Sara Bruner led. The session began with a quick game of trivia followed by a competition between 3 groups of students to put a skeleton together the quickest. After that, they suited up in scrubs to do a simulation blood draw. Every student got to insert a needle in an imitation arm and work to find a vein. The final activity at UNK was an online exploration of the different anatomies of several animals as well as getting to look at the various systems inside the human body.
The students then ate lunch at Kearney Regional medical center before continuing their afternoon activities. The group split up again to take tours of the whole facility before reconvening in a conference room to listen to a panel of medical professionals. The panel was moderated by the director of procedural services, Kandy Pflaster. There were five professionals on the panel from different specializations within the hospital. After a long day of exploring the medical field the YLK class of 2025 said their thank yous and headed home.
