High school students considering a health occupation will be about as close as you can get Wednesday morning to watching heart surgery without physically being in the room.
An estimated 180 students from five area high schools will view a live open heart surgery broadcast to the Nicolet College Theater. The surgery is part of the Live From the Heart program run by the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Dean of Health Occupations at Nicolet College, Lenore Blemke says the program is broadcast live as an open heart surgery is taking place....
"....the students who watch see the surgery from beginning to end, starting with incisions, taking out veins and flushing them with Heparin so they don't clot, doing the bypass...everything that happens during open heart surgery. It's also narrated by one of the surgical team members...."
Blemke says during her time as a pre-and-post operative nurse she never saw a heart surgery in person. She says people who are considering a health career will see the real world..
"....it's almost like your there. It's graphic, but it's excellent. It gives people a huge insight to what happens in this particular case in an operating room and students can also see more than the health alteration that is happening with the patient they see how the team works together and some of the technology they use....."
The actual surgery will take place at the Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois.
High schools attending this event include Elcho, Wabeno, Rhinelander, Northland Pines, and Lakeland Union High School.