Sunshine Room: Human Body Project

Here’s an excerpt from the Sunshine Room’s email documentation on Tuesday, May 14th:

This morning we were treated to special excursion to the University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital, where we had the opportunity to learn more about the human body, about hospitals, about medical helicopters, and about physicians who learn to treat people who are ill.

Jayden’s dad, Josh Ross, M.D., who is a pediatric emergency room physician at the Children’s Hospital, organized and led our exploration of the hospital. Our trip was a wonderful capstone to a year of investigation into the human body by the Sunshine Room children.

We visited a treatment room in the emergency room of the Children’s Hospital.  Josh showed us many familiar, and also unfamiliar, tools that physicians use to diagnose and treat children with acute health problems.  We also went to a critical care treatment room in the Children’s hospital where cases of serious injury can be evaluated and treated.  This room is maintained at a high temperature to maintain the body temperature of a patient who might need to be completely unclothed to fully assess and treat an injured child.  This room also contained special equipment and was accessible for portable x-ray machines and a large number of treatment staff.

We went to an adjacent room where we operated the “hands” of  computer operated surgical tools by picking up objects with holes off pegs and placing them on other pegs.  Maya’s dad, Jake Greenberg, M.D., a general surgeon at UW Hospitals and Clinics, demonstrated how to sew stitches and cut and tie the sewing material, all by simulation.

We went to a room where we were introduced to an adult robot and an infant robot that are used to train people to treat people at the hospital. The robots answered questions and cried.  They breathed and presented a pulse. After we left the room with the robots, we returned to the lecture room where we were first introduced to the simulation laboratory.  We then briefly a video, from four different angles, of ourselves interacting with the robots.  In this manner, students have the opportunity to watch themselves and other students to evaluate their interactions and “treatment” and assessment of the mannequins.

We then traveled by elevator to the 8^th floor of the Children’s Hospital where the medical flight helicopters are kept.  We saw three helicopters and the hangers they are kept in.  We had a wonderful view of Lake Mendota from way up high and we took in a panorama of beautiful Madison in the east direction.

We lastly headed to the hospital cafeteria where Josh treated all the children to a scoop of the incomparable Babcock ice cream.

We can fairly say that this was a field trip of a lifetime that will imprint the minds of a future generation of medical professionals.