Chapter Spotlight: Cook High School

Although our classroom has changed in many ways this year, one thing remains constant, learning. Students in the Introduction to Healthcare course were able to take their education to the next level by applying the knowledge they learned about fire safety and fire extinguishers to actually perform the skill in real life.
The Adel Fire Department assisted students with hands-on learning allowing them to correctly use an extinguisher to put out a controlled fire on the school campus. These firefighters did an amazing job explaining to the students the differences in the types of extinguishers and really helped them understand the importance of fire safety. Each student had the opportunity to use the device successfully in hopes that in the event they ever need this skill in the future, they will have some muscle memory to assist them with remembering the steps, remaining calm, and hopefully saving lives.

This year the classroom is faced with many challenges, most especially how to make learning engaging and interactive while maintaining safe distances and not contaminating one another. While studying healthy eating habits and diet and nutrition for patients, students in the Introduction to Healthcare class were able to put their knowledge to use when they created their own food truck.
Students designed their own competitive food truck, discussed with the class what food choices they would serve, and distinguished between the healthy and non-healthy choices for each. They were able to work in groups while maintaining social distance as most of their work was completed online. Some groups chose to create a physical representation of their project as shown in the picture above. Students enjoyed this activity because they were able to share a prepackaged food item that represented their food truck with the class.
Students in the Essentials of Healthcare class rose to the occasion by correctly identifying the anatomical planes, regions, and cavities of their “patient”, Mrs. Chiquita. After studying lots of new directional terms and vocabulary, these students were able to apply this knowledge in the interactive activity of performing surgery on Mrs. Chiquita successfully.

“Thanks to Mrs. Weaver and her program, I was able to put my skills to use and get a job at GUARDIAN IN-HOME CARE & A PLACE TO CALL HOME” states Kayla Pineda, a 2020 CHS graduate who completed the Allied Health & Medicine Pathway. Through this program, students, like Kayla, who are interested in Healthcare are able to learn valuable skills they will take with them after graduation to help them succeed in their journey to becoming Healthcare Workers.
Allied Health & Medicine is the final required course of this pathway and a component of this course allows students to participate in job shadowing opportunities in our local healthcare facilities. Kayla’s class was blessed with a few weeks’ worths of opportunities prior to the shutdown we experienced last year. She was assigned a position at Guardian, who was gracious enough to allow our students to come to interact with their residents during the school day. Once Kayla graduated, she was immediately offered a full-time position which was made possible because of the connection between the classroom and the real world.
During this pandemic, students are still getting valuable experiences by participating in a simulated patient care program where they learn how to communicate, interact with, and assess their virtual patient, Tina Jones. We look forward to building many more bridges between our Healthcare students and our local industry in the future.
The students in Mrs. Jacki Swanson’s class have come to enjoy the Halloween festivities here at CHS. This year was no different and HOSA was proud to sponsor the event held in the cafeteria to honor these students. Clubs and CTSOs from all around the school joined efforts to make this Halloween event possible. The theme of the event was “101 Dalmatians” and Mrs. Jacki’s students did not disappoint with their costumes. HOSA students enjoy hosting this event yearly because they get the opportunity to work with this special population and feel the joy experienced by all who participate.
HOSA students always love interacting with the residents at Southwell Health & Rehabilitation, however, this year that interaction would have to be postponed as we all do our part to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. Students did not let that stop them from thinking about the residents and they decided the least that could be done was setting up a small display of fall-themed decorations for the residents to enjoy while looking out into their courtyard. HOSA also recently donated supplies to the residents which would enable them to attend a new form of physical activity, cardio drumming! We hope one day soon we can join in on the fun and help lead a class for these residents!