A group of tamariki and rangatahi from the Pride Lands Childcare Centre, made their way to Wellington Regional Hospital’s Simulation Centre to learn about what exactly happens in a hospital.
Pride Lands is an organisation that runs social development, and, before and after school programmes, mentoring services and one-on-one support for young people aged 5-17 years-old.
Pride Lands Founder and Director Moses Ariama said he brought the group to the hospital so they could learn about how doctors, nurses and surgeons work in hope it would peak their interests in moving down a health career path if they choose too.
“If any of the young people have an interest in going into the medical field one day, this is the perfect opportunity to show them what they can look forward to,” he said.
“As a social development programme coordinator, this is a great opportunity to change their lives. It gives them a chance to learn more about hospital life and for them to know that a hospital is not just a place where you come when you’re injured or sick, but to inspire them to become a doctor or nurse and make a significant change!”
Simulation Service Manager Melita Macdonald said the team, with the help from some doctors, set up three different stations for the visit. One showed how they can listen to someone’s chest, take a person’s temperature or pulse and let them know what it means. The second station covered the basics of what to do if someone collapses, such as ringing 111 and basic CPR. The third and final station was the prize jewel, where the group rode in the flight simulator. The flight simulator is used to train staff on caring for a patient while flying through turbulence.
“They’re having a bit of an experience and a bit of an insight into some of the things that happen in a hospital,” Melita said.
“The aim is to give them a little bit of learning about how bodies work, about what we do, about what hospital’s do, and just demystify or take away some of the stuff that might be scary to them. It’s been fantastic having the kids here, it’s been a lot of fun. A bit different to what we normally do but the energy and the interest in what we were teaching was great. So they’re all going away with some new knowledge which is amazing.”
Moses thanked the doctors and Simulation Service staff that made the experience possible and giving the young people the opportunity to learn about hospital work.
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