MUSC hosts students during ‘shadow day’

A doctor, a lawyer, an Indian chief.

Tri-county area high school students learned Tuesday, Feb. 2, that there are a lot more jobs out there than the old jump rope rhyme suggests.

“Would you ever go out and buy a car without driving it?” asked Jane Locke, who works in human resource management at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“It’s very, very important you choose careers you like, that make you happy, that you wake up in the morning and want to go to.’’

The students learned what it is sometimes difficult to teach in a classroom—what different jobs are really like.

They “shadowed” employees—on Groundhog Day of course—who work in a range of jobs. This marks the second year of the event, a part of Gen. Colin Powell’s America’s Promise mentoring initiative.

Last year, 100 local students took part. This year, more than 1,800 students from 30 schools were placed in 75 tri-county area companies. Among them: MUSC, BellSouth, Cummins Engine Co. and Hilton Charleston Harbor Resort.

Another 2,000 students haven’t been placed yet because of the demand.

Altogether, they’re among a half million students nationwide getting a more realistic feel for the careers they may pursue.

Where better to see a gamut of jobs than a hospital? Sure, there are doctors and nurses. But there also are physical therapists, forensic pathologists, security officers, researchers, nursing assistants, computer technicians, administrators—to mention just a few. About 150 students headed for MUSC to see exactly what its workers do. And, just maybe, they’d get to see surgery or a dead body or a trauma case. Sure beats a day in class.

The students’ top picks? Pediatric surgery and physical therapy.

Dividing up into groups of five, they trekked to different ends of the campus.

“Today, you’re going to see what the real world is like,” said Locke, who’s on the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce task force working on the event.

When Locke asked for volunteers to go to physical therapy, Tracie Grant was among the first in line. She wants to be a therapist, like her uncle.

“I like to work with people,” the St. Andrews High junior said during a tour. Grant teamed up with sophomores Jameka Frierson and Leigh Spann. After taking a breather from the tour, the three learned practical lesson No. 1: Physical therapists must wear comfortable shoes.

Erica Rouvalis, physical therapy manager, had another suggestion: Get good grades. It’s a highly competitive field that’s only growing more so.

The trio ended up in the outpatient therapy area, supervised by Debbie Brown.

Huddled together, they intently watched patient JoAnn Ferguson undergo a painful session - necessary to get movement back in her ankle. A car wreck in October left her with 17 fractures.

Using a skeleton foot, Brown showed the students which bones Ferguson broke and how therapy will help regain their normal movement.

Ahhhh, so that’s what biology class has to do with the real world.

Grant placed her hand on Ferguson’s ankle, over a long red surgical scar, feeling how the bones moved.

Then Frierson gingerly put her hand on the sore ankle. “You can’t hurt me,” Ferguson said. Casting a slightly joking glare at the physical therapist, Ferguson added, “She can hurt me.” As Brown pushed her patient’s foot another direction, Frierson asked, “That doesn’t hurt as much as the others?”

“Oh, it hurts worse,” Ferguson said.

“When the foot goes forward, that’s the one that hurts the most?” Grant asked next. Ferguson just winced. That’s what being a physical therapist is about: Teaching patients, pushing them to endure pain to improve, cheering them on, putting a good spin on their complaints.

So, what’s the worst part of this job? the students asked.

The running joke among the therapists: “The only complaint I have is hearing people complain all day,” Brown said.

Editor's note: Article written by Jennifer Berry Hawes of the Post and Courier and reprinted with permission from the Feb. 3 edition of the Post and Courier.

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