As Sarahi Lauterio Martinez, a respiratory therapist at Benson Hospital, showed the process and equipment used to intubate a patient, the young people observing her looked on with fascination and curiosity.

The excitement – and some trepidation - grew as participants of Benson Hospital’s Future Superhero Academy got the opportunity to intubate one of the “patients” – an adult training manikin the students named “Jimmy Neutron,” or a baby manikin. Both were designed to replicate human anatomy, allowing students to practice respiratory care. Successful intubation results in inflated lungs.

“I’m not cut out for this,” one student said after a failed attempt.

“Let me tell you, I didn’t think I was either, but now look,” Lauterio Martinez said. “It just takes practice.”

After a few more attempts with the help of Lauterio Martinez and one of the nurses, the manikin’s lungs inflated.

“I saved Jimmy Neutron,” the student exclaimed.

The camp, for ages 11-15, was created as part of Benson Hospital’s strategy to “grow their own” future employees by educating young people about the rewarding health care careers available locally. Each summer, the hospital hosts five sessions of camp, with each day highlighting both a clinical and a non-clinical role within the hospital.

This week’s highlighted roles were respiratory therapist and chief executive officer. After a short lesson about each career path and visits from team members, students broke up into four groups that rotated to different stations to learn about the roles through hands-on activities.

Once a few of the participants tried their hands at intubation, it was time to walk in the shoes of a hospital CEO. This session was led by Gary Kartchner, CEO of Benson Hospital and Northern Cochise Community Hospital.

As the participants sat down, Kartchner handed them a stack of fake money, a stack of cards with issues and events on them and had them designate a money person and a CEO.

“You get to be CEO for the day,” Kartchner said to the group. “You have to make some tough choices. “You’re probably not going to have enough money to handle all of these problems.”

Their job was to decide which of the problems, bills and issues they would spend money on while also being interrupted by emails and unexpected problems such as a computer virus.

Issues included the electric bill, a broken Xray machine, a firework that went off in the Emergency Department and a leak among other things.

“We’re gonna be broke,” the appointed money person said.

After the decisions were made, Kartchner chats with the students.

“Let’s talk about this,” he said. “You had to make choices and some were hard. Some things you must do right away. We must prioritize things around patient care, quality and safety.”

Once students were done with every station, they got together to talk about their experiences.

Sophia, 14, recently moved to Benson from Kansas. She loves it and hopes to stay and become a respiratory therapist or a nurse. Camp was a fun and eye-opening experience for her.

“I loved learning about a career I want to pursue,” she said.  

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