By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
June 1, 2011

With a reflex hammer in hand, Northeast High School sophomore Coreyan Robinson tested the reflexes of a medical student at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB).

As first year medical student Andrew Trom explained how to use the tool on different tendons, Robinson listened intently.

Robinson was among 61 Northeast High School students to attend KCUMB’s first ever “Medical Student for a Day” event on May 27.

KCUMB first-year medical student Kameelah Rahmaan thought of the idea.

Rahmaan, who grew up in Pomona, Calif., recalled her eighth grade field trip to a local medical school. Before the tour, she and other students didn’t know the school existed, she said.

“I started tutoring (biology students) at Northeast High School (in February) and it was almost like the exact same thing,” Rahmaan said. “I’m talking to kids from this community who live literally behind the school and they were like, ‘What are you talking about? Where is that place?’ I really felt a sense of responsibility.”

Some children will do well regardless of their environment, but Rahmaan wasn’t one of those children, she said.

“I always knew I was smart. I was the kid in school who my teachers would say, ‘Oh, you could be the smartest kid in the class if you tried.’ I got things, but I never put a lot of effort into it,” she said.

During high school, she dropped out and later received her GED.

When she had a child, she knew she needed to further her education, she said.

“Sometimes all the roads aren’t straight to success,” she said. “I think that it makes me unique.”

When Rahmaan proposed the Medical Student for a Day concept to KCUMB Associate Dean for Student Affairs Dr. Maurice Oelklaus and KCUMB Executive Director of Communication Sara Selkirk, they jumped on board.

“She had this vision that we could provide this type of programming and impact them (students), that they could see opportunities in the future for themselves,” Selkirk said.

When Rahmaan presented the idea to fellow classmates, asking for volunteers, the response was overwhelming. Rahmaan had to turn away volunteers.

“I had to tell people that we had enough help, that there was just too much. There would be more medical students than high school students,” Rahmaan said.

KCUMB also had to turn away high school students. Sixty-one students surpassed the original number of slots.

“There were kids who were kind of upset that they weren’t able to come (because the spots were full),” Rahmaan said. “One kid told me, “Oh, my goodness. You go to my dream school. I want to be a doctor and that’s where I want to go.’ It made me so happy that he said that and he was looking so forward to coming here.”

For Robinson, the event allowed him to explore his curiosity of the medical field.

“I wanted to see what it would be like to be a medical student and what I’d learn here at school,” Robinson said. “I thought it was great because you got to see what pathologists do and what sexually transmitted diseases are and why you should use protection.

“We learned how to give massages that we could practice at home – how to feel the spine and how to remove tension from the spine and neck.”

Other stations taught NEHS students about reflex testing, blood pressure checks and microbiology labs, like gram staining and identifying pathogens on slides. Students also learned about human anatomy and were allowed to touch the heart, brain and lungs of a cadaver. Another station used human patient simulators (a high-tech dummy) to simulate real-life situations in the emergency room. The human patient simulators could talk, breathe, had a heart beat and could be given IV’s. Medical students sat behind a glass window in the room, using microphones and headsets to provide the voice of the patient. As the “patients” talked, NEHS students had to diagnose the problem and take the proper actions.

Other stations demonstrated osteopathic manipulative medicine, portable ultrasounds and others.

“It’s been exciting,” NEHS sophomore Briana Oakley said of the event. “I’ve learned a lot of new stuff.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve been in the hospital. It inspired me. I want to save people’s lives.

“I like learning about the body, the tissue and the blood. It fascinates me.”

Oakley said she plans to choose a career in the medical field.

Asked what she hopes the students took away from the event, Rahmaan said, “I hope that all of them get to see this place and see that success is not off limits to them, that whatever decision they make or whatever they do with their lives – it doesn’t have to be medicine – they know they’re capable of doing it.”

Above, KCUMB first-year medical student Brian Maxfield, middle, shows Northeast High Schooler Deandre William how to check a patient’s blood pressure during KCUMB’s “Medical Student for a Day” on May 27. Pictured left is Kameelah Rahmaan. Leslie Collins