Hononegah student attends medicine conference

Katrina Lamont, an incoming senior at Hononegah High School, used to think she might want a career in medicine.

Now, she’s sure.

Lamont returned home Monday from a 10-day Congressional Student Leadership Conference on Medicine & Healthcare at DePaul University, where she and other students were allowed to take on the roles of health-care professionals and learn to manage a patient’s case, making health-care decisions based on new medical facts and circumstances presented each day.

“Someone at school nominated me. It was anonymous,” Lamont said. “I’ve been pretty open about wanting to go into medicine.”

Lamont said she got to experience what it’s like to be a med. student, experience a gross anatomy lab and try a standardized patient encounter in which she interviewed a medical actor performing as a patient with an unidentified illness. She collected a medical history, performed a physical examination and made a diagnosis.

The students also received lectures from a physical therapist, nurses, a psychiatrist, an anesthesiologist and an pathologist.

“I wasn’t sure if medicine was right for me,” Lamont said. “I knew I was interested, but I didn’t know the personal side of it. This definitely solidified my decision to go into medicine.”

Before the conference, Lamont said, “I was pretty adamant that I wanted to go into surgery. After this, now I’m about 80 percent leaning toward surgery, maybe cardiology or orthopedic, but I’m also considered pediatrics, nonsurgical.”

The conference was sponsored by LeadAmerica and was designed in cooperation with Georgetown University School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Chicago Medical School.

“Leadership can make important differences in the lives of teenagers — in their academic and personal performance, in their acceptance to the college of their choice, and in their level of focus, passion and purpose,” said Chris M. Salamone, founder and executive director of LeadAmerica. “It is the key to what they do with their lives and how well they do it. In today’s world, it is imperative that we nurture leadership potential from a very young age.”

Further information on LeadAmerica and the conference can be found at lead-america.org or by calling 866-394-5323.