May 9, 2013

Alis Panzera, an assistant clinical professor of nursing, brought her sons Nicholas, 11 years old, and Christopher, 7, to Inspire a Child to Dream Day in the Simulation Lab on April 25. “This was our third year attending the event. Both of my boys look forward to it every year,” she said. Panzera has volunteered at Inspire a Child to Dream Day for the past two years helping children with medical needs.

Carol Okupniak and the team in the Simulation Lab organized hands-on experiences for kids who attended Inspire a Child to Dream Day. “These expose them to nursing and medical practices (what their parents do), and the hands-on approach makes it fun,” Panzera said. This year, kids like Nicholas and Christopher made their own casts, practiced CPR, worked on Sim Man, and saw the lab setup for a global health care simulation mimicking a post-earthquake Dominican Republic. The kids also saw moulage on the manikins that simulated injured patients. “We talked about and walked through how to care for these patients and the children had a chance to play Nurse Practitioner. They took turns leading the team caring for the patient and giving orders for care,” Panzera said.

Inspire a Child to Dream Day “is a great day of learning and it exposes children to so many experiences,” Panzera finished. “They come home talking about all of the things they did and they return to school with many great stories. My kids always say, ‘Can we go again next year?’”