September 2017 … Community volunteers who work at Quest Diagnostics in Horsham, Pa., have been great supporters of Healthy NewsWorks since 2014.
Members of the QuestCares volunteer team recently helped assemble 400 student reporter kits for the upcoming school year. Each kit contains a professional reporter’s notebook; research and writing study cards; a yellow journal for reflections, rough drafts, and vocabulary; The Inside Scoop, a four-page Healthy NewsWorks publication for reporters; and other materials.
QuestCare volunteers also serve as judges for Healthy NewsWorks’ annual poster contest and have organized several field trips to the Horsham lab for reporters to learn about microbiology, pathology, hematology, logistics, and phlebotomy.
The volunteers say they enjoy giving children insights into medical professions that could be future careers.
When the children arrive, “they know about how doctors and nurses affect their health, but don’t know about the ‘behind the scenes’ laboratory that also affects how a doctor may treat them for an illness,” said Becky Hunt, a quality assurance specialist. “They come away with knowledge that maybe even their parents don’t know about.”
Barbara Ambrose, a training specialist in Patient Services, said the lab employees enjoy finding out what the reporters learn from their visits. “It is always amazing to hear how we are seen through a child’s eyes,” she said. “It really brings home what we do and how important it is to share this with the student reporters so they can in turn share it with the school.”
“I just want to give a big shout-out to all the QuestCares volunteers for helping us get ready for another exciting year of health reporting,” said Marian Uhlman, Healthy NewsWorks executive director. “Their enthusiasm for our program and their willingness to share their health expertise really helps build our young reporters’ health awareness and knowledge.”
