Program encourages students to consider medical careers

Afsha Bawany

Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 3:30 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: Sept. 20, 2001

A new outreach program sponsored by the Freedom Enhancement Academy and Clark County Parks and Community Services is encouraging students in junior high and high school to pursue a career of medicine when they graduate from high school.

Called "Doctor for a Day," the program began in 2001 by Steven Brooks, the founder of the Freedom Enhancement Academy. While a medical student at Howard University in 1997, Brooks realized he wanted to find a way to expose students to the medical field while in their childhood and give them opportunities he didn't have growing up.

Brooks was unable to finish medical school due to family reasons and returned to Las Vegas to care for his family. In 1998 he founded the Freedom Enhancement Academy and implemented programs such as tutoring and math proficiency classes in churches and private schools. In 2001 he began "Doctor for a Day" in community centers.

"I wanted to give something back to the community and children," Brooks said. "We have to keep that passion and fire in them. It's for all students because every child deserves to have a light burning in them."

The first phase of the program begins with an introduction to the field with training in CPR and first aid. Students also learn about nutrition, mathematical measurements, data, blood pressure, bone functions and the skeletal system.

The second phase introduces etiquette and professionalism. Students learn how to act as a professional in the community and are taken to a restaurant to practice these skills.

In the last part of the program, students visit senior citizen homes to try out their blood pressure and vital signs skills they learned in the first phase.

The classes will be held starting Oct. 7 through Oct. 30 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at the Cambridge Recreation Center at 3930 Cambridge Street between 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

"The main goal is to foster their development in math and science," said Kelly Woods, the program's supervisor for Clark County Parks and Community Services.

Call 455-7071 for more information. Pre-registration is required.