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Daily DigestMeetings
The Drury High School Council meets Tuesday, Jan 13, at 6:30 in the conference room. Agenda items include AYP, school grant, laptop initiative and PowerSchool updates. |
Steve Decker cleans up in front of BankNorth on Wednesday.
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More Snow
The Berkshires received several inches of snow this morning, but not enough to close schools, unlike yesterday's sleety mess. Temperatures will drop into the 20s this afternoon. A few more snow showers are expected through the weekend.
We have reports that the roads are very slippery to take care in the evening commute. |
Duff'em If You've Got'em
 North Adams Regional Hospital went smoke-free Monday — so did all its sister sites, from Sweet Brook to Northern Berkshire Family Practice to the Women's Exchange. No ashtrays, no smoking: No butts about it. |
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Like to Write?
 iBerkshires accepts submissions about local events, news and opinion pieces. There are openings for freelance work, too, for qualified candidates. E-mail tdaniels@iberkshires.com to find out more. |
Wanted: Eagle Eyes
 MassWildlife's annual eagle count runs Dec. 31 to Jan. 14. Anyone sighting one of the regal birds in Massachusetts is asked to participate.
Send date, time, location and town of eagle sightings, number of birds, whether juvenile or adult and observer's contact information to Mass.wildlife@state.ma.us. |
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Obama TransitionOther StuffMars Rovers Mark 5 Years
 Spirit and Opportunity have been trekking the red planet for half a decade. Spirit hit the 5-year mark on Sunday; Opportunity will on Jan. 24. |
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Students Try On Medical Careers at NARHBy Tammy Daniels - February 17, 2008
iBerkshires Staff
 | | Whitney Cole and Katelyn Parmenter pose outside the MRI area. |
NORTH ADAMS - Kristina Reynolds face lit up as she described what it was like inside the MRI room at North Adams Regional Hospital.
"It was nice ... It wasn't as bad as a I thought it would be," she said Friday of the magnetic resonance imaging machine.
The 17-year-old wasn't sick - she was just getting a patient's eye view of what it felt like to lie on the table.
The Drury High junior was one of eight high school students spending the day at NARH as part of the local Job Shadow program. Normally held on Groundhog Day, Feb. 1, it was delayed this year because of a snowstorm.
That's turned February into "Job Shadow Month," said Michele Boyer-Vivori, an employment specialist at Drury High School, to fit in the 71 students in all four grades who signed up to job shadow this year.
Nurse Gladys Conklin shows readings to Drury senior Justine Barbeau. |
This is only the second year the hospital has participated. "We have double the number of students we had last year," said Lorraine Mancuso, the hospital's director of education.
The hospital had eight students shadowing in medical imaging, medical/surgical, maternity and rehabilitation; the students got to chose which department they were interested in.
The four girls in medical imaging were clear that they were interested in a career in the medical field.
"I asked to go here," said freshamn Kayla Brown-Wood, 14, of Drury High School. "I've always been interested in medicine. But I'm not sure exactly what I want to do."
For Katelyn Parmenter, 16, the choice was obvious choice.
"I want to go into the medical field and I'm interested in radiology," said the Hoosac Valley High School junior. "I've had a lot of X-rays from figure skating."
A member of the Christmas Brook Figure Skating Club and a Bay State Games competitor, she's taken a few tumbles in her time.
Job Shadow Day is a nationwide initiative to provide youth with glimpses into possible career paths through spending time with professionals. While the students aren't allowed to use any of the equipment, or interact with patients without the patients' permission, they were able to speak to doctors and technicians and observe the different aspects of their work.
Pamela Pelchat, left, and Kristina Reynolds talk about their MRI experiences. |
"We got to watch them take X-rays," said Whitney Cole, 17, of Hoosac Valley. "The doctors told us what they were looking for. If it wasn't right, they had to take another picture.
"I liked that they had a variety of people. It was unexpected what kind of patient was going to come and what they were to have to X-ray," the junior continued.
The program is popular with students of all achievement levels and can lead to further steps along a career path, said Boyer-Vivori.
For example, a student who job shadowed in medical imaging last year is interning in the department this year and plans to take the radiology technician course at Southern Vermont College in Bennington after graduating.
"He feels he's got an advantage before going to school because of being here," she said. "It's wonderful the hospital has opened itself up to the program."
Drury has 27 interns (juniors and seniors) spread throughout the community in various positions. Participation in the program can lead to job offers after high school, said Boyer-Vivori, as well as possible college credit.
Mancuso said the hospital had worked through the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce to set up the Job Shadow program. Last year's students gave the program a positive review, leading to
Barbeau and Conklin |
The hospital is used to having students in nursing and radiology - one from SVC, Pamela Pelchat, was in the MRI room. But only in the past two years have high school students become part of the mix.
Health care is one of the fastest-growing occupational fields in the nation; it is expected to generate some 3 million new jobs over the next eight years, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While there's plenty of job opportunities in the field, one of the students in the Job Shadow program had a much more personal reason for choosing nursing.
Seventeen-year-old Justine Barbeau will graduate from Drury this year. She's already applied to the McCann Technical School licensed practical nursing program and was getting some mentoring from Gladys Conklin, an LPN on the third floor.
Barbeau explained how she watched Conklin give out medications, take blood pressures and other care. She posed for a few photographs. But as the reporters walked away, Conklin called out that her shadow had something more to say.
It was about why she wanted to be nurse - not because of job growth, not because of earning power. But because illness had given her perhaps greater empathy with the sick who need her care.
"The reason I want to be a nurse is because I was diagnosed with MS in my freshman year," she said. "It's really made me want to help others." |
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