Remember Sophomore Orientation?

Yesterday I spent the day at a conference center called the Asilomar conference grounds with the Health and Human Services Academy. In the morning at about 7:45, we went on a discovery bus. Our tour guide, Cathy, was extremely fun. We played bus bingo and she gave out prizes. Some of the prizes included a yo-yo, a camera, and a card game. When we got to the place we went into a church looking building where we were seated. There, our tour guide gave us our breakfast. There was bananas, apples, oranges, and an option of croissants. To drink there was orange juice, apple juice, milk, and coffee.

After we were served our teachers discussed the Health Academy’s Merit Badges. I learned about the different topics there were in the system. We earn Merit Badges to prove our employability skills and to practice being independent learners.

After we had our meeting a lady, Teri, came and took us to the beach to play games. That was really cool. Although it was really cold, we warmed up by running around playing a paired tag game. My favorite game was the human puzzle because it allowed me to use my mind to try to figure out how to untangle ourselves. After we finished playing our games we took a group picture and then we headed to the Crocker hall were we ate our lunch.

The lunch was delicious. We ate soup and cheeseburgers. After we ate we were allowed to go outside and play around for a while. My friends and I went into the main building and played ping-pong and I got some beef jerkey and some batteries for my CD player. Then the tour guides gathered us by the bond fire were we ate s’mores. I love s’mores, so I ate like three of them. After the bond fire was over we gathered on the buses for our ride home. Overall the trip was really fun and I had a good time meeting new people, playing games, eating s’mores and learning more about team work.

Veronica Brambila
October 12, 2005

Past Academy Highlight: B.E.S.T. Luncheon Speeches
In May, 2005, several Academy Seniors and Juniors were nominated to speak at the B.E.S.T. Regional Occupation Program luncheon. They did so with pride; below you can find copies of their speeches.

B.E.S.T Speech
by Stephanie Zavala
May 16, 2005

Good afternoon my name is Stephanie Zavala. I am a senior at Alisal High School and planning to graduate in June 9, 2005. I have been in the Health and Human Services Academy for three years. The Health and Human Services Academy is an academy that opens up doors to new careers in the health and human services field and gives students the opportunity to visit different universities and colleges to see how school relates to the careers of our choice. We listen to guest speakers like doctors, military medical staff, nurses, and others. I have been in the PostPone Program for one year. This is a program that teaches teens about pregnancy prevention and how to protect them against Sexual Transmitted Diseases. During these four years in high school I have had the opportunity to participate in two ROP courses, Health Occupations and Physical Therapy Aide, which gave me the opportunity to observe and experience these careers, first-hand.

During my freshmen year, Mr. Rosen gave me the opportunity to job shadow a Physical Therapist for one day at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Back then I didn’t have my goals set and I wanted to experience new things and see if this career was of my interest. I was really amazed at what I saw that day. In one day, of course, one doesn’t see a whole lot, but that day was the day I said, “ This looks like something I would like to do for the rest of my life.” I was moved by the help I saw the physical therapist give to a patient that was in pain.

In my junior year, I took Health Occupations, an ROP class, that taught me a lot like: medical terminology, medical abbreviations, how to take vital signs, and the course also gave me the opportunity to go job shadowing for two weeks. Now comes the fun part, job shadowing. There is nothing like it. I job shadowed at the Women’s Clinic and in the Physical Therapy department of Natividad Medical Center. In the Women’s Clinic, I had the chance to help perform an ultrasound, take vital signs, learn new and interesting equipment, and how to do pregnancy tests. When I was job shadowing at the Natividad Medical Center’s Women’s Clinic I observed the technician do an ultrasound on a pregnant woman. We got to see the baby and know what sex it was, while inside the mother. After I observe the technician, she asked me if I would like I hold the device for a moment. I was able to see more of the baby. This was exciting for me because it was the first ultrasound I have ever seen and I got to participate just for a second. My next rotation, Physical Therapy department, I interacted more with patients. I got to talk to some of them and learn more about their disabilities and how they were getting treated. I also got to use some equipment therapists use to treat patients. Unfortunately, I didn’t really do a lot of hands on work because I was just job shadowing and because I didn’t really have a lot of experience.

This experience led me to my next ROP class, Physical Therapist Aide, which I really love. I really enjoy this class because I practice more of my communication skills. In this class we do a lot of hands on work. For example, we did head and neck massages that personally I enjoyed the most. We also did paraffin baths, which are hand massages. The process of paraffin baths is easy, we just put warm wax on our hands to help relax the muscles and then we proceed with the massage itself. In this class we also expanded more on medical terminology and how to do different exercises to treat injuries of different kinds. I am currently taking what my instructor, Ms. Maya, calls a community class, which s kind of like job shadowing but for four weeks, and we do get to apply our knowledge as much as we can. For the first two weeks I went to Pacific Coast Care Physical Therapy, which is an inpatient outpatient office. I help the therapist aide set up therapeutic work area, take and bring patients to the therapy room, follow the therapist with a wheelchair when the patient is practicing walking, and also I help the aide do charting. At this site I talk to patients to make them feel comfortable with me. I introduce myself and say that I am a physical therapy aide student. I am taking this class to experience what it is like to be a physical therapist. And after this short introduction most of the patients want me to help them, and of course I am always happy to do o. I love going there and really look forward to a career based on what I learned in these two weeks. This week I have moved to Phelps & Associates, a Physical Therapy office. After this class is over and I have met the requirements I will receive a certificate, from my instructor that shows an employer that I have entrée level experience and can work as a Physical Therapy Aide.

In conclusion, my experience with the ROP Program has been great because it has given me the opportunity to experience, interact, know and learn new things and meet new people from different schools and different life styles. This helps me because in the future I will be able to communicate better with people. Through this program I had the chance to work towards my goal of becoming a Physical Therapist Aide and work my way up to eventually be a Physical Therapist. I really want to thank Mr. Rosen for giving every student the possibility to take a class in which they can identify a career goal and look forward to a career they would like to pursue. I also want o thank Mrs. Johnson, Ms. Kaney, and all of my Health Academy teachers for making high school fun and related to my career interests. Thank you Mrs. Bradley and Ms. Maya for making the heath field come alive for me with a first-hand experience. There is nothing better that seeing and living what it is really like in a health facility environment.

B.E.S.T Speech
by Guadalupe Gasca
May 16, 2005

Good afternoon. My name is Guadalupe Gasca. I’m a junior at Alisal high school and I’m part of the health and human services academy.

• First of all I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had, job shadowing at the hospital.
• Last semester I took Health Occupations ROP class with Mrs. Bradley. This class actually showed me how to prepare myself for the hospital experience, and most importantly what precautions to take when treating a patient. We study some anatomy, which is really interesting, how to take vital signs, how to get a room ready for a patient, and rules on confidentiality, and many other things that prepares us for the hospital setting.
• The Health Academy at Alisal High school has also prepared me for my medical career. The academy has given me an opportunity to participate in educational fieldtrips, and has outside speakers who work in the health industry sharing their knowledge with me. It has also given me a chance to explore my interests in the health care field while earning my high school diploma. One of the fieldtrips we take as sophomores was my first visit to Natividad Medical Center. We actually visited both hospitals.
• This is a fieldtrip that every health academy sophomore takes with ROP counselor Mr. Rosen.
• I got a chance to job shadow at Natividad Medical Center for two weeks that were great! I was in Maternal Infant Unit and Medical Surgical. The nurses that I was with in both departments really motivated me to follow my dreams and complete my goals in life. They even recommended some Universities and colleges to go after high school. I got a long with everybody really well and most importantly, they treated me as a professional, and I really appreciate that.
• My first day experience was at the Maternal Infant unit. When I got there everything was new, but right away my instructor Lisa Tucker gave me a specific duty. There was a lady who had just given birth to her tenth child and she was getting a blood transfusion. She was really upset. When I got there, right away I started talking to her. We talked for a long time about her home in Mexico. I identified with her because she was like any lady I would meet in Mexico. Her family was like mine with Mexican parents emigrating from Mexico and coming here to the United States. Our families came to the United States with a dream of succeeding and having a better future for their children. After a few minutes of talking, she stopped crying which made me feel so good about myself. One reason was because it was my first day and I felt I helped someone. Secondly I never thought that I could be talking with a person that I’ve never seen in my life and being able to console her. That day I stayed with her the entire time I was at the hospital. This experience made me feel that I really helped someone, and that feels wonderful.
• Another patient that I thought was really important during my job shadowing at the Medical Surgical Department was a young man who was getting dialysis. He didn’t speak any English, and neither did his family that was with him in the room. When I got there, he was really shaking and didn’t look so good. He told me that he felt nauseated and that the room was really cold. The nurses got him some medicine so they could stop his nausea and they changed the room temperature. The next day I came to his room I talked to him for a while and he looked way better. He was recuperating really well. Nobody in the room spoke Spanish and I felt really useful just by being bilingual and being able to help.

Translation was one of the things I did mostly every day in both departments during my two weeks. Job shadowing showed me how important my other language is in the health field. Also I think Job shadowing gives the students an understanding of what the hospital setting is like and gives the student an opportunity to know if he or she feels comfortable in that kind of environment.

Job shadowing also gave me a great experience and allowed me to observe health care professionals. It provided me a real life opportunity to know how health care workers do their jobs. The two weeks at Natividad Medical Center were full of interesting things and new people and that helped me out a lot. I can say is that job shadowing is one of the greatest experiences a high school student can get.

• I really want to thank the people who made this possible and most importantly the nurses at Natividad Medical Center. Especially Mario, Annabel, Debra, and Lisa, in MIU & MSU. They take their time to explain many of the things they do and the kinds of machines they work with. Also, I want to thank Mrs. Johnson who’s in charge of the Health and Human Services Academy. She really motivates students to go out and see the different careers in the health field. Finally, thanks to Mr. Rosen who’s in charge of ROP at Alisal High School who gave me the opportunity to share my experience with all of you. Something that I would definitely do is to recommend job shadowing to any student in high school. I think it is a great way to find out different vocations and see how they really fit a person’s interest.
• I would like to thank all of you for attending this luncheon. It was a pleasure to share some of my fantastic experiences with all of you. I know now that I want to be a Register Nurse.

B.E.S.T Speech
by Candra Diaz
May 16, 2005

Good afternoon and welcome to our luncheon . My name is Candra Diaz. I am currently an eleventh grader attending Alisal High School . The reason why I am here today is to talk about my job shadowing experiences . I am currently taking R.O.P Physical Therapy class. As we speak, I am doing a job Shadowing rotation. For the past two weeks I have been job shadowing at Davis Chiropractic Office. This week I am at Axis Physical Therapy. I am also a member of the Health and Human Services Academy at Alisal High School. These experiences have made me realize how interesting it will be to work in the medical field.

The ROP physical therapy assistant class with Ms. Maya has been really great for me because I have learned many things, like how to care for a person who is injured. We not only study theory out of a book, but we also apply what we learn class. One of the things that I enjoy the most are the massages. Just thinking of them makes feel so relaxed. The massages consist of range of motion ,which are hyper extension , lower extension , and lateral extension. Ms. Maya coaches us to use the proper techniques in order to do the massage right , and for the client to get the full benefit of it. The first time we tried massage I didn’t know how a person feels when he or she is tense. But having Ms. Maya help me made it easier because she guided me through the whole massage.

We practice massage on each other in physical therapy class. We recently got to practice on the public at the ROP open house. At the open house we had a lot of guests , what I mean by a lot is ,there was a line all the way outside of the building, just waiting for a massage. In fact I would like to invite you to our next open house to see, as well as to feel how a massage is done and to enjoy it as much as I do.

This was great preparation for us because it helped us get ready to go out and work at a physical therapy office. We don’t just go out and work, but we have a good teacher at ROP that helps us prepare for the work that we will be doing. One of the most important things that I learned while being a physical therapy aide is that you should always be polite and have good communication with your patient. This is a easy for me because I tend to start conversations. I love to talk. We learned to never pressure the patient to do something that they are not capable of, because that would only be hurting them more instead of helping them.

I was able to attend two different job shadowing locations , in order to see the difference between a chiropractic and a physical therapy office. The first rotation was Davis chiropractic. My first day going there was really scary because I didn’t know what to do or say-which is an amazing thing because I am never speechless. So I walked in, well at least I tried to walk in. I tried to open the door but it just wouldn’t open .Why you ask ? well it was because instead of pulling, I was pushing it.It was much easier to open the door the right way . And this was my introduction to job shadowing ?

Once I made it inside , I introduced myself to the staff and they were really nice to me. After we introduced ourselves , they showed me how to chart a patient which basically is to mark off the exercises a patient does. They also showed me the equipment they use to massage the injured area. They even gave me a massage. My experience getting a massage was interesting because instead of relaxing , I started to laugh. Monica the therapist , said that I moved like a worm and that if all of her patients were like me , giggling ,then she would have a rough time trying to control them. So, as you can tell, my first day was really fun. Laughing is a great way to relax when your are a little tense with a new situation.

Not only was I able to work with the patients at Davis Chiropractic , but I also was able to work in the front office. I was shown how to answer the phone and file patients folders. These past two weeks have been great help because these experiences have given me many reasons why I should be a physical therapist.

One of the most important benefits of going job shadowing is that at all the times the staff makes you feel as if you are like one of them . These past Friday ,which was my last day ,I was suppose to take something to thank them for letting me be a part of their staff. So I baked a chocolate cake. We had a little celebration for ending the course and guess what? they loved my cake.

You are probably asking what motivated me to be a part of job shadowing ? Well it is all thanks to the health and human service academy at Alisal high school. They introduced me to medical careers. The Health Academy is a program where students take English ,math ,and other subjects with teachers that guide you through your sophomore , junior, and senior year. We study academics but with a slant toward health and human services.

In conclusion, these experiences have been really great because without them I wouldn’t know what physical therapy is or what career want to pursue. These experiences have motivated me to go to college because now know what I want to be. I also know that a good education in necessary to get a good job.
Now you my wonder what is my next step? Well my next step is to attend the summer health institute at Salinas memorial hospital. I just received my letter of acceptance. This is really exciting. As soon as I opened the envelope I just read the first word ‘congratulations’ and I started jumping up and down.. This program can help me gain more experience in the medical field. They will be showing me the many types of things nurses and doctors do.
I would like to thank Ms. Maya , my health academy teachers ,The Davis chiropractic staff and , Axis physical therapy for giving me a chance to work in their offices. Thanks to all of you for attending this evening and hope you enjoy my speech.