Fulfilling their dreams

Pre-med students test their desires at Franklin
      Combining educational assignments with actual work experience in a medical center is the something that pre-med students dream of in their undergraduate years. Franklin Medical Center is a hospital that makes these aspiring doctors' dreams reality by offering the Summer Scientific Work-Study Program.
      Completing its 36th summer, 31 students from all over Nassau and Queens, with one participant hailing from Saudi Arabia participated in this beneficial five week journey.
      Students are rotated through the hospital's many departments, spending about four days in each area of specialization. They observe the emergency, operating and delivery rooms, explained one of the students, Randy Cohn, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania and a Valley Stream resident. Exposure to support services, such as X-ray, physical therapy and laboratory is also part of the program. Each department's professional staff supervises and instructs the students, "giving us the full taste of the hospital," added Cohn.
      Dr. Ira Klonsky, Vice President of Medical Affairs and the doctor in charge of the program said, "this is a great opportunity for college students who have an interest in the medical field to get a first hand taste and touch of the medical profession. Students are rotated through all aspects of the hospital; lab, OB, ER and the OR, they see first hand life and death situations which is a tremendous opportunity to have in college."
      Students also participate in daily lectures, which they wouldn't otherwise experience until medical school. These lectures introduce them to medical and surgical specialties and sub-specialties. The more personal aspects of a doctor's life and doctor-patient relationships are revealed during discussion periods.
      Program Coordinator and participant in the 1998 program Toinette Chin, who now attends University of Rochester Medical College, said, "this program has definitely helped me in medical school. It is very realistic and you get to see different parts of a doctors life and surgery."
      Valley Stream resident Michelle Beirouti said, "seeing it from this side is not as glamorous; it is far from what people think." With the program coming to a close this Friday, Beirouti, a senior at Binghamton University, added that she's glad she participated. "It is something that you can't learn if given a hard text."
      Both Cohn and Beirouti still said that the program made them realize they really do want to be doctors, but that they are just undecided in what kind of doctor they will be.