Day 4

Today we started the day with Ensign Trey Draude and rode Metro over to Bethesda, Maryland.  We started with a small walkthrough of Walter Reed Medical Center.  Yes..Walter Reed Medical Center.  What an honor to even step foot into a hospital of that caliber.

We then shuttled over to the USUHS or Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  Or as many call it, the best kept secret in medical schools.  This is a fabulous opportunity for the student who doesn’t want to incur $150,000 to $200,000 in debt going to medical school or graduate nursing school.  Here is the rundown per Dr. Aaron Saguil.  Complete your undergraduate studies, with competencies in science, teamwork, service, ethical behavior, responsibility and reliability, as well as social and psychological stability, a GPA of 3.5ish, MCAT score of 31ish and then apply to USUHS.  They will pay you $57,000 per year to be a full time student with tuition and books completely paid for.  In return, you will pay back 7 years to the uniformed services of our nation, working as an MD or PhD while gaining massive amounts of experience to carry back to private practice upon completion.  I don’t know about you…but that is one major deal for any student looking for a way to pay for medical school.  Oh and by the way, the library is available to you 24 hours a day, the lectures are all recorded and available online and the only requirement on your part is to form study groups, share notes, be helpful and supportive of one another and get involved in the life of the university community.  Which is about the size of the local community college.  We toured their gross anatomy lab and yes they still have a cadaver lab with student access 24 hours a day and residency access from Walter Reed as well. The anatomy lab director was kind enough to let us tour the entire lab. We got to see the "power house", a box full of brains! He explained to us the laboratory process that students have to go trough. Soon after, we took a tour around the Graduate school of Nursing.Our HOSA interns met with several medical students and asked questions and took pictures.  That was the best picture in the bunch. We loved that the graduate students were encouraging us to step up. 

We followed lunch with a meeting with several people from NACCHO (National Association of County and City Health Officials).  This is a non-profit organization that provides resources to health departments all over the nation to strengthen them and support them in so many ways I can never cover it all.  The information received by this group was so varied and extensive.  They help with initiatives from several departments within the government and I think the best one can do to get information on them is to check out their website and look at their connections and ties. When we were done meeting the NACCHO, the program director escorted us to the main lobby. We found out that she had something in common with us, HOSA! She is one out of the 2.2 million alumni that HOSA has. She is from the Florida delegation, so her and Devindra got to talk more about their HOSA experiences at a local level.

The day ended with the interns heading into George Washington University for dinner, and sightseeing. 

 Past National Secondary Board Rep - Nae Won, and Current National PS/C VP -Devindra Persad exploring the study cabins in the Resource Center.

 HOSA Interns meeting with graduate students understanding what life in graduate school is all about.

 HOSA Interns getting ready to study!

 HOSA Interns learning all about the Graduate School of Nursing!

Graduate student Vega was lecturing to the HOSA Interns about the classes offered at the University!