Press Release
Date: 11-02-09Name: Terri Guess Phone: 973-972-7265
Email: guesstp@umdnj.edu
UMDNJ Shows Students How to Be "Doctors for a Day"
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The Student Doctor for a Day program, in its ninth year, was organized by the Women’s Health Institute of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, with support from the Foundation of UMDNJ and one of its Trustees, Susan Flynn-Hollander, Of Counsel with the law firm of Schenck, Price, Smith & King, in addition to the many UMDNJ schools, people, and programs who volunteer their expertise and time. Other program sponsors included Atlantic Ambulance, Colgate Palmolive, A+ Products and Wakefern.
Gloria Bachmann, MD, director of the Women’s Health Institute of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said that attendees were captivated throughout the day. “Their enthusiasm was a clear indication that UMDNJ students touched the lives of hundreds of children and their families.”
The student doctor program gives New Jersey students a chance to interact with UMDNJ medical students in a friendly and nurturing environment. For the first time, this year’s event brought together 180 student volunteers from throughout UMDNJ - with representatives from New Jersey Medical School, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, School of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Public Health, New Jersey Dental School and graduate students in the allied professional programs. The student coordinators were LoAnn Heuring and Pooja Raval of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and Sandra Rodriguez and Laura Desimone of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
“The students' enthusiastic approach to sharing knowledge with the attendees was well
received and the various tables, games, medical mannequins, exhibits, shows, labs, ambulance rig, interactive stations, craft activities and classrooms drew attentive and inquisitive audiences for more than five hours,” said Flynn-Hollander.
James Reilly, who attended the program with his children, said, "Your event was fantastic. From the anatomy lab, where my kids handled the oozy organs to the ortho slide show after which they were treated to three soft wrist casts, all were done so well. You should be very proud of this event.” Reilly also was impressed with the student diversity, which he called a “veritable UN."
Each participant received a bright red backpack filled with a New Jersey Medical School water bottle and stethoscope. Participants were asked to bring school supply items that will be sent with various international medical mission groups to clinics in Ghana, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica where several UMDNJ students volunteer.
Bachmann, who is also interim chair of OB/GYN and associate dean for women's health and chief of the OB/GYN service at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, said, “Dental, medical, nursing, physician assistants, school of public health, other graduate students and volunteers truly made a difference, and my hope is that many of the young participants who attended the Student Doctor for the Day will a few years from now be the teachers to the next generation of participants.”
“We are hopeful that youngsters who never believed that being a doctor was possible for them saw firsthand through this program that doctors come from all walks of life and have one goal---to keep people healthy,” Bachmann said.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.
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