Published June 12, 2024
CAPTION: Students from Mangham High School pose with faculty and students from VCOM, along
with representatives from the ULM TRIO Program.
MONROE, LA – On Friday, March 22, Mangham High School 10th-grade students attended a mini medical school at VCOM, located near the ULM campus.
The visit was facilitated by the ULM TRIO Educational Talent Search program, which
encourages local high school students to pursue education.
The mini medical school lasts for about 90 minutes. The students were taken on a tour
of the VCOM-Louisiana campus that included visiting the large auditorium where much
of VCOM students’ initial training and teaching is conducted. There is also a Center
for Simulation and Technology that has SimBaby™, SimJunior ®, SimMan®, and SimMom®
manikins that simulate various medical complications and mock treatment rooms. The
goal of the school is to promote health awareness and prevention to middle and high
school students, as well as introduce and encourage students in the NELA region to
pursue careers in health science.
After the tour was completed, the students were brought into a large room where five
stations were set up. The stations were Substance Abuse, Basic Life Support, Primary
Care, Infectious Disease, and Mental Health and were manned by current VCOM second-year
osteopathic medical students (OMS-II). The VCOM students took about 15 minutes at
each station and fielded questions relating to each respective topic.
The Mangham students later noted that they really appreciated this because it gave
them a much broader view of things that are addressed on any given day in a hospital
setting. They got to practice CPR and learn about the dangers of drug and alcohol
abuse, vaping, general health, diabetes, STDs, treatment for anxiety, suicide prevention,
and many more topics.
"VCOM is committed to its mission of training physicians to meet the needs of rural
and medically underserved populations. We recognize that sometimes students from these
areas are not exposed to the idea of a career in medicine. Through the mini medical
school curriculum, we hope to create a spark that will light a candle that gives them
some sight into a medical profession", said Dr. Jonah Flowers, VCOM Associate Chair
of Rural Medicine and Underserved Primary Care.
“One Mangham student commented that it was amazing how realistic the training dummy
was,” noted ULM TRIO Outreach Specialist Wendy Hagan. “I never considered them being
able to have dummies with pulses throughout. Also, the interactive skeletons with
special stethoscopes to learn different sounds inside the body were amazing.”
Anthony Bartley, ULM TRIO College Transition Coordinator, stated “We’re very grateful
to VCOM for setting up this Mini Med School. It’s so important for these high school
students to have this opportunity. Having a school like VCOM in this area is phenomenal.
Many students find that not only are these types of careers accessible, they are attainable,”
added Bartley.
VCOM offers the mini medical school multiple times a year, from October to March.
For more information, contact Dr. Jonah Flowers at jflowers@ulm.vcom.edu.
