(PHOTO PROVIDED / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
HEALTHCARE CAMP … Local students had the opportunity to learn more about healthcare and the medical field at the second FCHC Healthcare Camp of the year. From front, left to right are attendees Elizabeth Schlatter, Bentlie Setmire, Katelyn Hancock, Laura Clark. From back, left to right are Gabriel Chamberlain, Calleigh Stoner, Gracyn Pelton.
(PHOTO BY SAMANTHA N. STRIPE / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
INSURANCE BASICS … Students attending the FCHC Healthcare Camp on Sunday, April 6, 2025, had the opportunity to learn more about the basics of health insurance, including different types of insurances and co-payments.
By: Samantha N. Stripe
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
Fulton County Health Center (FCHC) held their second healthcare camp of the year on Sunday, April 6, 2025, providing students with the opportunity to learn more about the medical field and explore various career pathways.
The camps began in June 2015 to provide students who are interested in a healthcare career a chance to learn the basics, as well as get behind-the-scenes knowledge.
“We wanted to find a way to engage our teens and give them a taste of the healthcare culture,” said Mary Gautz, Coordinator of Volunteers and Auxiliary at Fulton County Health Center.
“They go to college…and they get their clinical experiences in an urban setting. We wanted to invite them here first, so they get a taste of what we do; maybe they would come back and build a practice or a career at Fulton County is our hope.”
The camp, which was held in the afternoon, focused on a variety of key healthcare components, ranging from the importance of patient privacy to the basics of billing and coding to taking a training to learn how to properly push a patient in a wheelchair. Students also received a tour of the facility.
“Just to have some of those experiences…is engaging for them,” Gautz said, adding that the students can learn through the medical tour; for example, when stopping at the lab, she discusses how a urine and blood sample are broken down.
Other topics covered include infection control, clinical skills, taking a pulse and safety basics, as well as learning about empathy, and “what it might be like to be a patient.”
The camps also serve as a “gateway” to future opportunities, Gautz explained to the students. After attending a Healthcare Camp, students are invited to take home an application to volunteer and/or job shadow at FCHC, including Fulton Manor, where they can also be connected to an employee who serves as a career coach.
Gautz said that, in the past, some students who have come back after the healthcare camps have had the chance to see more behind-the-scenes work like surgeries and a cesarean section delivery.
“How is any high school student supposed to know what they want to do unless they’ve tried it?” Gautz said, sharing that the camps can help students decide whether to pursue a healthcare career, noting that some students come in interested in the medical field and decide it’s not for them, while others come back to job shadow and learn more about their areas of interest.
Another area of focus for the students is the career paths available in the medical field, their training/education requirements and what they entail.
Delta High School senior Elizabeth Schlatter was one of the students attending the camp on Sunday.
“I’m not 100 percent sure what I want to do after high school, and I’m interested in the medical field and wanted to explore different opportunities,” she said. “It definitely piqued my interest into different job opportunities that I didn’t know existed.”
The camps are free and open for high school students in northwest Ohio; however, they are only available for the first 10 registrants. The next camps are on Thursday, June 26, 2025, and Tuesday, July 29, 2025, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.
“It’s a low-effort way to test the waters of healthcare,” Gautz said. “I really want them to be open to collecting experiences here.”
For more information about joining a camp this summer, contact Mary Gautz at mgautz@fulhealth.org or 419-330-2695.