St. Luke’s Miners Campus in Coaldale recently conducted a STEM program to introduce middle school students to various medical fields and common terminology used within.

Dr. Joanne Calabrese is the founder of the program. She got the idea for the program when she looked at her 10-year-old child, deciding it’s something all children should be introduced to.

“I knew I wanted to be a doctor since I was 5 years old,” she said. “I would play with all the toys at my pediatrician’s office. And I want to show kids that it can be fun.”

The children broke up into five groups and each visited the same stations: cardiology, radiology, emergency department, rural health and operating room.

At each station, the children learned about jobs and fun facts related to the field.

At the rural health station, a dental hygienist showed them the effects that candy has to a tooth’s pH balance. They experimented on different water bottle brands along with Tamaqua city water, and discovered that the city water in Tamaqua has a healthy pH balance.

At the operating room station, the children washed their hands the same way a surgeon would before performing surgery. They were introduced to the tools used during surgery, with the medical professionals in the room explaining what they’re used for and why.

In radiology, the children joked about the terminology used.

“A CAT scan — scan your cats,” one student, said.

“No, they scan people like you,” another child replied.

The leaders at that station let the children have fun moving the X-ray machines and asking related questions.

“They’re asking a bunch of questions, such as how long they have to be in school,” a radiology doctor said.

At the cardiology station, the children learned about the heart. They were shown an informational video, and volunteers of the group were able to be hooked up to an EKG themselves.

In the emergency wing, the children were walked through a day in the life of Karen Robertshaw, RN. They were shown what it takes to be a nurse, and the groups acted out a trauma scenario to show the students real-life occurrences in the hospital.

“My kid would’ve liked to sleep in, but this was enough motivation to get her out of bed. She couldn’t wait to get here,” Tammy Chrin, parent of an attendee, said.

Students attended from surrounding school districts such as Tamaqua, Panther Valley, St. Jerome’s and Mahanoy Area.

Reflecting on the day, Calabrese summed up everyone’s experience.

“I think the staff had as much fun as the kids,” she said.