SCOUTS EXPLORE HEALTH AND MEDICAL CAREER

Explorer Post 4077 members know what it's like to be in a disaster drill. Last year they were victims in a drill in St. Louis.

Members of the Cape Girardeau's health career and the firefighters posts received fake blood and fake injuries in drill, administered by the U.S. Air Force.

Explorer Post 4077, sponsored by Southeast Missouri Hospital, has 12 members interested in health and medical careers.

Post adviser Barb McKeon, a employee counselor at the hospital, started the post in 1992. It was chartered with the Boy Scouts in 1993 with three members, two from Jackson and one from Advance.

It has a program each month where members often observe a medical procedure. Last month, the group saw a videotaped surgery and then visited with Susan Thiele, a surgery educator at the hospital.

Thiele conducted the tour of the operating room and then answered questions.

Post members often ask very good questions, McKeon said.

McKeon said only one of her post members had ever fainted when they observed surgery.

Most surgeries the post members have observed have been heart surgeries, she said.

The post's name, 4077, comes from the "MASH" television show unit.

The three boys and nine girls in the post have a variety of interests in the health field, and McKeon helps members explore those interests.

McKeon said it's OK for members to not have a specific career in mind when they enter the post, and she counsels that they should look at a variety of areas and all aspects of the medical field before making a decision.

"If you don't want to work nights, don't be a nurse," she said, adding that most nurses start out working the night shifts.

McKeon thinks it's a good idea to know what you are getting into before making a career choice.

The hospital pays for transportation for the post's out-of-town visits, and members have visited St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis where they studied the research unit. Members have also visited Barnes Hospital and Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis.

Members pay $7 a year in dues to the Boy Scout office.

Post members spend their meeting nights visiting medical people where they work. They ask questions about the duties of the job, the education needed for the job and the salaries paid by the job.

Some programs observed by the post are in respiratory therapy, physical therapy, pediatrics and tobacco compliance checks. One topic for this year's post members is in forensic pathology.

Members pick the programs they want to observe.

McKeon said her post requires members to be at least sophomores in high school.

Post members this year are sophomores, juniors, seniors and some college students.

There are three or four high school seniors in the post, and if they go to Southeast Missouri State University, they often remain in the post, McKeon said.