Medical training tells Lehigh Valley students how to deal with substance abuse, mental health, violence

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — More than 200 students from across the Lehigh Valley are getting hands-on medical training over the next few days.

Lehigh Valley Health Network is holding the three-day program, called “Supporting a Safer Community: Substance Use, Mental Health and Violence Prevention.”

It is made up of a panel discussion with medical experts and a series of health care simulations.

“We’re also doing an interactive portion where they get to see and actually care for what they would do in the community," said Kerri Green, director of healthcare career development at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

"So we have Narcan training, we have CPR, we have Stop the Bleed, as well as the opportunity to see what an inpatient psychiatric admission might look like.

“Having that opportunity to actually put things into play and put things in action, and watch people and watch that skill level and to know that maybe at some point in your future, that's something that you'll be able to do without a whole lot of thought.”

'In a caring manner'

On Friday, high school students from Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts participated in the training.

"I really like how we're, like, going into each room and they're teaching us how to do things," said Deanna Marie Martin, an 11th-grader at Executive Academy.

"Like, the last room was CPR and this room. They're teaching you how to pack wounds. It's really cool to see.”

Deanna partnered with Jinessa Gonzalez, a senior at Building 21 Allentown, during the Stop the Bleed demonstration.

"The hands-on is actually very, very helpful because you don't just get bored, because you can actually demonstrate, see where you go wrong, get corrected," Jinessa said.

She said she is interested in becoming an ultrasound technician.

“I would like to help others," she said. "I want to make sure everybody's OK, give a helping hand when I can and just spread the love.”

Green said the program serves as a way to introduce students to careers in health care, amid a shortage of medical professionals.

“It's all about practicing things that you almost never get to practice, or getting practicing things that you need to get really, really good at," she said.

"So when you're in high-stress situations, such as all the things that we're talking about violence prevention, you know, substance use disorder, in those kinds of high stress areas, you need to be able to react very quickly in a calm manner, but also most importantly, in a caring manner."

'You have to go to the community'

The program, held at LVHN’s Center for Healthcare Education in Center Valley, was made possible through a grant from Lehigh County Drug & Alcohol.

It included a panel discussion about safety in the community with doctors and first responders.

“What we've realized over the last several years is to approach violence as a health care problem, as a disease," said panelist Dr. Mark Cipolle, chief of the LVHN's trauma and acute care surgery division.

"And the best way to approach that is to, to lessen it, is with prevention.

“There's some real common themes and, to me, the common theme is you can't do this work in the confines of a hospital or a clinic, or a police station. You have to go to the community.”

Friday and Monday the program will play host to high school students, while Saturday it will welcome students from colleges around the Lehigh Valley.