Students Witness Live Open Heart Surgery

(NEW LENOX) On March 7, 2018, Providence Catholic High School’s Anatomy and Physiology class traveled to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry to view a live heart transplant surgery.

The students went live into an operating room and watched and listened via video conference as a surgical team perform a heart transplant at a Chicago based hospital. Trained museum educators facilitated the video conference and the students had an opportunity to communicate with the surgical team to learn more about heart health and medical careers. The surgical team included the head surgeon, anesthesiologist, surgical nurses and a physician assistant. This STEM based experience has been available to PCHS students for 15 years thanks to science teacher, Frank Cavallone.

“Many of our students choose careers in medicine and science,” said Cavallone, “and this is a great opportunity for them to see first-hand top medical personnel in action.”

The group of students were sophomores and seniors that have demonstrated their passion for the medical field, human anatomy, and understanding of human structure and function. This is just one of two trips teacher, Frank Cavallone takes the students. At the beginning of the year, he also took a group of students to the Cadaver Lab at the National University of Health Sciences, located in Lombard, Illinois.

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Kathleen E. Kennedy

Director of Communications