Future Healthcare Professionals Explore Sports Medicine At Youth Medical Mentorship Program

Students from around the Tulsa area now know more about health sciences thanks to a sports combine-style event held at Union High School. Healthcare professionals from several universities taught them about different elements of sports medicine.

This was the first fall medical summit held by Youth Medical Mentorship. The program's goal is to inspire young students interested in a healthcare career to become medical professionals in their community.

In simple movements like walking, jumping, or doing a push-up, hundreds of students learned more about careers in healthcare.

"He told us to persevere through challenges and pressure," said student Dallas Garner.

Garner participated in the Youth Medical Mentorship summit to learn about his dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.

"I have knee issues myself, and I want to help other people that have problems as well," said Garner.

Medical professionals from universities across Oklahoma and Kansas worked at several stations, teaching students about their areas of expertise.

"We're doing just a really brief kind of quick, how do you do this, why would you do that, and helping students to understand the importance of some of the things that therapists do and athletic trainers do in rehabilitation," said Dr. Roger Kollock.

Analyzing walking patterns was the focus of Dr. Kollock's station. Other stations lined the inside of Union High School's athletic facility.

"Here, they're assessing how individuals balance using what we call the 'Y' balance test to assess that. We're also looking at flexibility, so how much range of motion someone has at their hips," Dr. Kollock said.

As students participated in each station and wrote down their scores, Dr. Kollock said summits like these can help them determine their future.

"This kind of really helps spark an interest to really start to think about pursuing a career path in healthcare."