SUBURBAN BOCA RATON, Fla.---Isabella Saviotti is excited to be in the classroom this summer. She and several other students who want to be in the medical field are learning the ins and outs from doctors at West Boca Medical Center.
“Knowing how to tell if someone is having a stroke or putting a splint on someone if they have a broken bone, that was something I never really learned," Saviotti said.
This is the first year West Boca Medical Center has hosted a summer academy for its teen volunteers.
“10 years I see myself as a sports physician pursuing what I really love,” said Ashanti Clumbie.
The medical field is something Boca High School senior Ashanti Clumbie has wanted to do since she was 13. “When I was 13 I was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer," she recalled. “I really got a lot of insight being that young and I’ve had a fascination ever since."
The volunteers usually spend their time in one area of the hospital but the class broadens their knowledge.
“I hope it exposes them to so many different departments that we have here," said West Boca Medical Center Director of Volunteer Services Laura Albertini.
Doctors hope they’re shaping the future of healthcare here at home.
“We hope they come back and serve as our own physicians and nurses here in our community. We hope that we make an impact on them,” said Albertini.
The academy lasts about eight weeks. West Boca Medical Center hopes to put it on again in the future.