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Greenville Fifth Graders Participate in Mini Medical School

Baldwin Heights Elementary Students Use Artistic Talent to Replicate the Human Body then Perform Mock Surgeries

Greenville, MI January 13, 2011 – On Thursday, January 20th, fifth graders at Baldwin Heights Elementary school will experience something few – if any- ten and eleven year olds do – performing surgery. 

Baldwin Heights Elementary teacher Mindy Hepinstall has taught fifth grade students for seventeen years, ten at Baldwin Heights.   Annually, she teaches a science unit focusing on the human body, including how each of the body’s systems functions.  This year, she’s making this unit decidedly more hands-on in nature.

Last Spring, Hepinstall came across a news story featured by a local television station, profiling a school in New York that had partnered with local physicians to implement a “Mini Medical School.”  The school, P.S. 4 Duke Ellington School in Manhattan, New York, created replicas of the human body out of everyday materials, such as clay and paper mach. They then worked with local doctors to perform mock surgeries and procedures on them. 

Inspired, Hepinstall saw this example as an opportunity to expand her own human body unit and also partner with Greenville’s local hospital, Spectrum Health United Hospital.  She soon contacted Greenville Public Schools Superintendent, Pete Haines, who, in turn, was able to assist in connecting Hepinstall with key individuals from Spectrum Health United Hospital.  Together, they formed a plan to customize and implement a similar program at Baldwin Heights in early 2011.

Hepinstall’s Mini Medical School lasts approximately four weeks.  During the first few weeks, students will build replica body frames and organs out of a variety of materials in order to deepen their learning how each works in the body’s system and affects the entire human body.   The fifth graders will be assisted by parent volunteers, school nurses and art teachers to complete their human creations.

Hepinstall knows that while building these replicas will be fun for her students, it will also provide them with a greater understanding of their own bodies.  In addition, the unit might spark future goals for her students.  “I hope the Mini Medical School will enrich the students’ knowledge of the human body systems, the organs involved in each system and enhance the medical field as a possible career,” Hepinstall commented.

The Mini Medical School at Baldwin Heights will conclude on Thursday, January 20th when surgical staff from Spectrum Health United Hospital in Greenville come into the school and assist students in performing mock surgeries on the replica bodies. 

Students will be divided into groups based on surgery type.  Types of surgeries to be portrayed will be a heart transplant, lung transplant, appendectomy and cerebral aneurysm repair.  The fifth graders will scrub in right along side of the surgeons, giving them an even greater perspective on careers in healthcare.

Adam Post, Director of Surgery for Spectrum Health United Hospital has led the initiative from the hospital side, recruiting surgical staff and preparing for the event to make it as realistic for the students as possible. 

“We are excited to work with Baldwin Heights in developing the Mini Med School. It’s our hope that the students will leave at the end of the day feeling proud about their accomplishments and also learn more about the role of surgery and medical care in taking care of the body.  This is also a unique opportunity for all involved to better understand the medical care available in Greenville to help their families if they would ever need it,” Post said. 

Invitation to Media

Media are invited to attend the event on Thursday, January 20, 2011 from 9:00am – 12:00pm. 

Media is encouraged to contact Jennifer DenOuden at 616-225-6420 (work) or 616-893-4903 (cell) to acknowledge attendance. 

Media Parking:  Baldwin Heights Elementary School main parking lot or directly along Oak Street.

Please register at the Baldwin Heights Elementary School front office prior to entering.  You will additionally be greeted by a representative from either the school or the hospital. 

Baldwin Heights Elementary School
821 W. Oak Street
Greenville, MI 48838

Additional questions can be directed to Jennifer DenOuden, Spectrum Health United Hospital Director of Marketing and Communication at 616-225-6420 or jennifer.denouden@spectrum-health.org.