Albertus Magnus Institute

DENVILLE  Campbell Chapman jumped at the rather daunting challenge: Try to save a life in two minutes.

Well, it was really the “life” of a simulation dummy patient used for practicing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. Regardless, Chapman, a freshman honors student at Morris Catholic High School (MCHS) here, stayed focused for the entire 120-second task. She stood over an operating table and tried to administer as many life-saving chest compressions as possible, while several fellow students — her competitors — looked on. In the background, a smartphone blared an iconic 1970s disco hit to help Chapman keep compressing at the correct pace, while also offering up some comic commentary to the otherwise serious activity: “I Will Survive.”

Providing an ironic soundtrack of songs was Matt Kostelnik, a staff member of Holy Name’s Russell Berrie Institute for Simu­lation Learning. For three days in July, Chapman and 15 other students in MCHS’ new Albertus Magnus Institute (AMI) for the Biological Sciences participated in the center’s Healthcare Careers Discovery Program, where they toured Holy Name Hospital, met with healthcare professionals, learned to diagnose patients, become trained in CPR and the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), and give a simulation “dummy” patient medicine and fluid intravenously — followed by testing those skills in friendly competition.

Starting this coming academic year, MCHS will offer the Albertus Magnus Institute program to prepare a very select group of students for possible careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) — and to help people survive and thrive, said Christianna Landsman, the program’s coordinator, who teaches biology, AP biology, and anatomy and physi­ology.

“It was fun,” said Chapman, of her experience in the Health­care Careers Discovery Program. She hopes one day to use chemistry in work at a lab. “I didn’t do too badly performing the CPR. I learned that work in a hospital looks fun, not boring. It’s not scary; there isn’t blood spurting everywhere,” she said.

The summer visit to Holy Name served as an informal kick-off for the Albertus Magnus Institute, a four-year program for 25 of MCHS’ brightest STEM students. The program will start, when classes resume in September at the Morris County high school, launching select freshman and sophomores into rigorous STEM courses. They will take challenging math and science courses, such as genetics, biomedical ethics, AP chemistry, AP physics, AP biology, organic chemistry, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, and AP calculus.

“The program also features enrichment opportunities inside and outside the school, during the school year and the summer, which may include internships with professionals in related scientific or healthcare settings. We want students in Albertus Magnus to be the best applicants to the top colleges for science and medicine and be prepared at the highest level to study in those institutions. They also will make important contacts with people in these fields, during their enrichment opportunities,” said Father Peter Clarke, MCHS president, adding that MCHS plans to invite doctors and nurses to visit the school to talk with students, during a “lunch and learn.”

Many students in Albertus Magnus Institute have expressed a desire to pursue various professions in medicine and science, such as becoming a doctor or a veterinarian, sports medicine or lab work. As part of the curriculum, they will conduct experiments, write papers about them and publicly present the results. The program also features a service component, which might include volunteering in a hospital setting or raising money and awareness to find a cure for pediatric cancer, for example, Landsman said.

The program was named after Albert the Great, a German Dominican, bishop and a Doctor of the Church, who was born around 1200. He served as a professor at the University of Paris and earned doctorates in several disciplines. Pope Benedict wrote that Albert has a lot to teach Catholics about “the friendship between science and faith.” Albert died in 1280.

“MCHS selected incoming freshmen for the program based on their middle-school grades and academic ability and picked sophomores based on the recommendation of their math and science teachers,” Landsman said.

Sixteen of those Albertus Magnus students received a taste of work in a hospital through the Healthcare Careers Discovery Program. In a special department at Holy Name, they learned on the first day how to administer CPR and operated an AED to aid people having heart attacks. At the start of the second day, Ben Mazza, another staffer, taught students how to assess a person’s medical condition, when they arrive at the hospital. With stethoscopes, they took turns listening to the heart and breathing rates of a “dummy” lying on a gurney in another room of the department.

“There are ominous signs, when patients are moaning, have wincing facial expressions, use their hands to guard a certain area of their body or there are signs of blood. You also need to know where organs are in the body, so you can figure out which organs are affected,” said Mazza, as the “dummy” made moaning sounds. “Listen to your patient,” he said.

Then, students divided into four teams with catchy names — General Hospital, St. Elsewhere, Heartbeat and Side Effect — for the CPR competition, one of which was held in a room that looked like a real operating theater. The “dummy” vocalized when they effectively administered each chest compression, including comments about the rhythm and placement of their palms.

Afterward, students took a Virtual Dementia Tour, which promotes empathy towards people who are old and infirm. They got suited up for the experience, wearing fogged-over goggles to simulate blindness; large, unwieldy gloves and uncomfortable shoe inserts to simulate neuropathy; and headphones to simulate deafness. In a room that looked like an apartment, they tried to perform simple tasks, such as count out 72 cents in change, remove a belt from their pants, place pills in a case and change the hands on a clock — all of which they found difficult given their physical limitations.

“Some students sit there frustrated. Others have different reactions — they are confused, scared or feel lost. They really get to know what it feels like to be old with disabilities,” said Jason Puch, another staffer, as he watched students through a one-way mirror.

On the final day of the Healthcare Careers Discovery Program, students practiced injections by inserting needles into another “dummy” that also assessed their performance.

“Students in the program learn what it’s like to work in a hospital through all these simulations. It also exposes them to different areas of medicine and healthcare, before they go to college,” Puch said. “Most of the students enjoy the program and end up sticking with medicine [as a career choice],” he said.

Waiting with his fellow students for the bus back to MCHS, after the second day, Marco Gordils, a freshman, told The Beacon that he wants to pursue a career in sports medicine to “help athletes.”

“This [Healthcare Careers Discovery Program] helped me learn how to treat people, who come for treatment, better,” Gordils said.