Recently two Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center employees visited a local fifth grade class at Turie T. Small Elementary School. 

Rachelle Daniels, Cardiac Catheterization Lab manager, and Mike Cark, Cardiovascular Operating Room manager, taught the young pupils about heart health and the importance of overall wellbeing. They brought the class lunch and explained the effects smoking, diet and exercise can have on the body’s cardiac systems.

“We were working on body unit,” teacher Kerri Cark said. “With the hospital’s visit, the kids were able to take what they are learning in the class’ curriculum and relate those lessons to real life.”

She went on to explain that as both a Title 1 and Plus One school, the students at Turie T. Small Elementary do not go on field trips frequently and have limited access to computers for virtual field trips.

Title 1 status provides federal support for schools with a high number of students from low-income families. The goal is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education and become, at minimum, proficient on state academic achievement standards and assessments. The Plus One program adds an additional hour of instruction every day for a select group of Title 1 elementary schools, like Turie T. Small Elementary.

“These kids are at high risk for heart disease and other illnesses,” Kerri said. “Mike and Rachelle were great about relating this topic to what the kids know, and the kids had a ton of questions, asking things like ‘My dad has a smoker for a long time, what does his lungs look like?'"

After their visit, Kerri asked her students to write down or draw what they had learned from Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center’s visit.  The students took the drawings and made a collage out of it, a meaningful piece of artwork that now hangs in Cark’s office. 

“I think this is something that will stick with them,” Kerri said. 

This serves as another example of Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center’s mission of hope, health and healing.  With five nonprofit hospitals in Volusia and Flagler counties, Florida Hospital is the largest hospital system in the area, with nearly 800 beds and 4,700 employees and caring for nearly 650,000 patients every year. In 2010, the five Florida Hospital campuses collectively contributed more than $107 million in benefits to the underprivileged, the community’s overall health and wellness and spiritual needs, and capital improvements.