Medical assisting students at the $$Princeton Campus who have completed at least one clinical class spent many hours volunteering during the months of September and October. Students have traveled to Richlands, Tazewell, and Bluefield, Virginia to complete vision and hearing screenings at ten different Tazewell County, Virginia elementary, middle, and high schools.
Patricia Sell, director of health care education, has arranged for students to assist with the screenings for the past three years. When Christie Christian, nursing supervisor with Tazewell County Schools received news that ANU students would be coming again she said, “Thank you for offering your services to us! We appreciate the help!”
After students completed screenings in Tazewell, Kay Maxfield, nursing supervisor said, “The girls were great, cooperative, and pleasant. Thanks so much!”
“They were wonderful…very professional…interested and excited to learn something new…worked really well with the children,” said Sandy VanDyke, the nurse practitioner who coordinated the visit. “I hope it was an educational experience for them as well.”
Students concur that it was very educational. “I have thoroughly enjoyed going to the schools and doing the hearing and vision screenings,” said Jennifer Gibbons. “Learning the new skills and being able to perform the tests well have increased my confidence.”
The schools each had different criteria for screenings at different ages. Some completed screening for nearsightedness and farsightedness and some also added stereopsis (depth perception) to the list. They also completed pure tone audiometry and viewed a demonstration using acoustic reflectometry.
Student Twila Belcher said, “It has been a pleasure working with fellow students at the hearing testing sites.” Student Leslie Perdue said, “It was a great experience. It really helped me become more comfortable in becoming a med assistant.”
Pictured (l) to (r) are students Lakan Newman, Tiffany Carter, and Lorie Clifton, health assistant at Richlands Elementary School.
