Cardiology is a branch of medicine that focuses on the study of the heart, circulatory system, and blood vessels. Even though the focus is health related, the club is open to all students, even those who are not in the health academy. This is the second year the cardiology club has been around and there are even more things to look forward to this year!
The first interest meeting of the club was last Friday on September 16th in Mr. Miller’s room in the science building. The club is led by co-presidents Sophie Spera and Aamina Lakha, along with their girl-led officer team. The mission of cardiology is to provide research, mentorship and shadowing opportunities in the fields of cardiology and hematology oncology.
This year’s goals for the club are to emphasize public health and healthcare advocacy, improve the community through involvement in initiatives, promote research and awareness, and make it possible for members to access opportunities in healthcare and medicine.
The club has 10 dollar dues, but if you are looking to achieve certain certifications there may be additional expenses.
Some activities the club will experience this year are clinical skills, certifications, internships and shadowing. Various clinical skills will be taught such as EMR skills and EKG interpretations. For certifications, you will be able to obtain some such as CPR, BLS, and bleeding control. Medical internships and shadowing of health professionals such as cardiologists, hematology oncologists, and phlebotomists are opportunities made available in this club.
A year-long opportunity to participate in a health advocacy project is available and highly recommended, though not mandatory. One of the co-presidents and a Health Academy junior, Aamina Lakha, talks about her plans: “I wanted to become involved to help create experiences for other students interested in medicine, especially those who do not get the chance for hands on learning, such as students who did not join the health academy but realized they were interested in medicine. I like that there are a lot of hands-on opportunities for members to get introduced to the medical field, such that when we discuss a topic like vitals, we don’t just learn why it’s important or how it’s applied, but we also get to try it out for ourselves. I’m not entirely sure which field of medicine I’ll go into in the future, but the cardiology club allows me to explore the fields of cardiology and hematology oncology more in depth to see if it’s a possible career option for me. Last year our meetings were a bit infrequent, so I hope to have more this year and I hope to grow the club as it was pretty small last year.
Cardiology club also offers volunteer and community service opportunities! Some include Oneblood drive, community cleanups, food pantry, SCD awareness campaign, American Heart Association, and some more. Health Academy junior Jaye Brewer shares what she is looking forward to: “I heard about the club through the sponsor, Mr. Miller, after he talked about the club last year and all the activities they do in it. That made me think that it would be fun to join this year. I’m mainly looking forward to phlebotomy because it’s a useful skill for drawing blood. I think being a part of this club will allow me to learn and gain valuable hands-on experience revolving around cardiology. This will help me in the future since I want to be a veterinarian.”
If you are interested in joining, the Remind code is CARDIO25 and the club meets every other Friday after school. Come stop by for a peek, hopefully to join for the year!