This summer we’re hearing from our amazing camp staff. Our Hope College students do the heavy lifting of planning, prepping, and teaching our hands-on camps all summer long! Each week, 2-3 student staff members will recap a camp they’ve led and share tips on how to keep the fun going at home!
Hi all, and welcome back to the ExploreHope summer camp blog! My name is Isabelle Bertolone, and I am a senior at Hope College. I am going into my final year of nursing school at Hope, and I have such a heart for nursing and all the wonderful things you can do in this profession.
I was STOKED to find out that I would be leading the Nursing and Health Professionals Summer camp through ExploreHope. There couldn’t have been a more perfect camp for me! And now, I get to share some of the best parts of the camp with you all!
The Nursing and Health Professionals camp provides an introduction to the world of nursing and other careers in health, highlighting all the opportunities there are for nurses as well as some of their primary responsibilities. Throughout the course of this four day camp, our 9-12th grade campers had the chance to take a full set of vital signs, perform a brain function assessment, put on and take off a full set of personal protective equipment (PPE), hear from nurses from a variety of different specialties, and more! Campers found pulse and respiratory rates, and can even tell you what the normal range is.
My personal favorite part of camp was watching the campers don (put on) and doff (take off) their PPE as they raced to see who could do it the fastest! Some other highlights include
- Our aids race with a wheelchair, crutches, and a walker.
- Swabbing different surfaces around campus and seeing what bacteria grow.
- Watching the campers work through scenarios where they were the nurses, and I got to play their patient.
But the PPE race stands out as my favorite 🙂
The Nursing and Health Professions camp was a great way to kick off the summer back at ExploreHope in person, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer brings! -Isabelle
Visit ExploreHope Summer Camps for more info. Although many of our camps are full, there are still openings for all ages. Scholarships are available for middle and high school students interested in environmental and engineering topics. Contact Lise at zinck@hope.edu for more information, including questions about transportation options.