Mercy, Toledo Central Catholic create medical mentoring program |
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Wednesday, 19 May 2010 00:00 |
TOLEDO—Toledo Central Catholic High School senior Alex Gehr has wanted to be a doctor since he was 2 years old. So when Mercy St. Vincent teamed up with Central Catholic to offer mentoring opportunities for students interested in medical careers, Alex jumped at the chance to get involved.
For the past year and a half, Alex has been shadowing emergency room resident Mark Reddington about twice a month as he works in the pediatric ER and the regular ER.
The mentoring program was created last year by Dr. David Ledrick, assistant residency director in the St. Vincent department of emergency medicine. According to Dr. Ledrick, he came up with the idea of a high school mentoring project as a way to give the students a better idea if they want to pursue medicine and to show them what interns and residents do.
“They see real people who are actually doing this,” says Dr. Ledrick. “A kid may be interested in biology or chemistry and they may be directed toward medicine, but unless they actually see what goes on clinically, they may not realize if this is what they really want to do. Medicine is a big commitment. What a tragedy it would be to get there and then realize that’s not what you want to be doing.”
Since the age of 2, Alex has broken his arm three times, broke his toe, thumb, ankle and hip, had some knee injuries, had his gall bladder removed, and has been diagnosed with asthma and acid reflux disease. His experiences with doctors over the years led him to decide that he wants to become a doctor, specifically a pediatric surgeon.
 “When I broke my arm for the third time, I was telling the doctors how to treat it,” Alex recalls. “Then I had some bad doctors when I needed my gall bladder removed. They weren’t helping me with the pain and said it was all in my head before they finally decided to do the surgery. I want to become a surgeon so that none of my patients will have to go through something like that.”
At St. Vincent, Alex has been learning a lot about the signs and symptoms of different ailments and what to look for when making a diagnosis. He has seen doctors remove needles from a child who fell into a cactus plant, witnessed the treatment of a man who cut himself across the abdomen with a saw and needed to have emergency surgery, and learned what to look for when a pregnant woman came into the ER with chest pain and left arm numbness. He also assisted in performing an ultrasound.
Alex hopes to continue the mentoring program even after he starts college at the University of Findlay, where he will major in pre-med. “I’ve grown so much because of this experience,” he says. “It has really confirmed my decision to become a doctor and I think it is preparing me well for medical school. I love the medical field, and I think this program is a great experience for anyone who wants to go into it.”
Dr. Ledrick adds: “This is valuable for the students, but there is also something of value for the residents here who do the mentoring. “They can remember why it was exciting for them to get into this in the first place.”
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 00:00 |
