First-grade teacher Laura Morrisson doesn't have to worry about getting sick. One of her young students said she plans to care for her teacher.
Dominique just told me she'll take care of me when I'm old and sick, Morrisson laughed.
Dominique was one of 50 first graders from Aberdeen Math and Technology Academy in Grand Rapids who visited the Kirkhof School of Nursing this week to learn what a nurse does.
Nursing students taught the children how to listen to heartbeats, peer into ears, take blood pressures, wash hands properly, test reflexes and perform other health-related tasks.
Ron Perkins helped plan the field trip. Perkins, who coordinates the nursing school's Learning Resources Center, said he wanted students to gain a better understanding of what happens during a visit to a hospital or doctor's office.
They might be scared when they have to go to the hospital, and hopefully this will give them an overview of what nurses do, Perkins said.
Aberdeen is a partnership school of GVSU. Tom Jackson, GVSU liaison to the academy, said the partnership between the institutions gives elementary students information about college life.
Jackson has future field trips scheduled to the Fieldhouse, the carillon towers, and computer labs. Aberdeen fifth graders have toured the Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon.
Through the partnership, GVSU faculty and staff members can visit Aberdeen classrooms to serve as expert resources and mentors. Jackson welcomes new mentors into the partnership program. He can be reached at 940-3746.
