Medical student Andrea Partida teaches Ali Nolan how to listen to a patient’s heartbeat.
Operation Orange Oklahoma high school students get a taste of life in medical school during OSU-CHS summer camps. PHOTO / RYAN JENSEN
Ali Nolan wants to save lives. Diagnosing diseases, performing medical procedures and treating patients are what the high school senior plans to do. She is going to be a doctor in rural Oklahoma. “I’ve always been interested in the medical field and being a doctor,” Nolan says. “Math and science are my best subjects in school, and a career in medicine is something that just comes naturally for me.” To learn more about what it’s like to be a doctor, Nolan signed up for Operation Orange, a series of summer camps offered by the OSU Center of Health Sciences. The June camps let middle and high school students experience a day in the life of a medical student and practice the skills they will need as physicians.
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“Operation Orange was a good way to get some key experience and see what it’s like to be a doctor,” Nolan says. “I had never gotten to do any kind of medical work before, and Operation Orange gave me perspective on what I will be doing in medical school and in my own practice.” Nolan was among more than 200 Oklahoma middle and high school students who participated in the inaugural camps, which were hosted by regional universities in Ada, Enid, Lawton and Tahlequah. The camps are one of the new initiatives launched under the direction of Dr. Kayse Shrum, president of OSU Center for Health Sciences, to recruit rural Oklahoma high school students to the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. “One of the primary factors that determines where a physician will set up their
practice is where they grew up,” Shrum says. “With Oklahoma experiencing a growing shortage of primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas of our state, it is imperative for us to recruit and train students who want to return to their hometowns to practice.” The OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine has made a concerted effort to meet with students while they’re still in high school. Faculty and current medical students provide guidance and mentorship to prepare the high schoolers for the rigors of medical school. “The camps are a fun way for us to connect with these students and for them to get an idea of what they will learn in medical school,” Shrum says. “It also helps to let them know that medicine is a career they can do, even if they live in a rural area.”