This past summer my sister Ava and I attended Medstart, a week-long camp at Mont Sinai Hospital and Medical School in New York City. I had a great time and I thought I would share some of the amazing things I learned while I was there.
The Pulmonary System: The pulmonary system, is responsible for the way you breathe. The system consists of your mouth, nose, trachea, and lungs and has some more detailed parts such as your bronchiole and your alveoli . I learned the functions of all of these, and learned terms that are used to measure the rate of your breathing such as total lung capacity, tidal volume etc. I practiced CPR and even got to hold real lungs!
The Heart: The heart is an amazing thing, and I got to learn about it. The atriums and ventricles, the valves and arteries were all so new to me! I cannot believe I hadn’t already known these things. I saw some one being tested by an EKG ( Electrocardiogram) thats monitors your heartbeat. I was able to touch real human hearts and I am still able to list the flow of blood from your right atrium: right atrium, right ventricle, lungs, left atrium, left ventricle, aorta, brain and the rest of the body.
The Gastrointestinal tract: The Gastrointestinal tract is probably the most crazy part of the body, at least to me. Starting with your teeth and ending with your rectum, this system works to break down the food you eat and store all of its nutrients. I was privileged enough to be able to examine human specimens and learn about how our bodies process all different types of things inside of the food we eat like carbohydrates, potassium, sugars, fats, iron etc.
I also got to do some other wonderful things like suture pigs feet and look at bacteria through a microscope. Though I learned so many cool things, the most rewarding part of the experience was learning with a group and being able to meet a lot of interesting medical students who have some things in common with me. This camp has really launched my interest in medical science, and I am so fortunate to have been chosen again to attend another camp this weekend!
The Galileo School 