SPECIAL REPORT
Two Worlds, Big Hearts: Some Educators Work in Health Care, Too Patrick Lothrop—Lapeer Community Schools
Beverly Banks—Alpena C
When middle school science teacher Patrick Lothrop ran a weekly Zoom class meeting during remote learning last spring, his students asked how he was feeling. Was he busy? Staying safe?
MEA member Beverly Banks got creative to finish teaching two hands-on nursing classes that she already had under way at Alpena Community College (ACC) when buildings on campus closed in March.
Lothrop works part-time as a health care worker and full-time as a teacher at the Center for Innovation in Lapeer. In his job as a medical technologist at Beaumont Hospital in Troy, Lothrop runs laboratory tests on patient blood and bodily fluid samples. As an educator he teaches middle school science and engineering, including an elective course called Medical Detectives. He explains to students the work he does and safety precautions he takes every day. “I’m honest with them. I say, ‘Yeah, I worry when I go to work sometimes. Yes, I’ve got the mask on; I’ve got the gloves; I’ve got the gown, but I still worry when I go to work.’” Under normal circumstances, students in Lothrop’s Medical Detectives class study the human body and DNA to learn how to measure and interpret vital signs, diagnose disease, and solve “crime scene” mysteries through hands-on projects.
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Students plate bacteria, grow it, and do antibiotic studies on it. Lothrop brings in blood samples to spin down and show the components of blood. The goal is to teach problemsolving—a critical skill in life and the lab—by drawing on kids’ interest in real-world applications. “A medical technologist has to problem-solve,” he said. “When results look abnormal, I have to determine whether they’re accurate or not to be able to give out to the doctor. And I have to look at all these different formulas in my head to determine if the specimen is valid or not.” Lothrop was a scientist before he was a teacher. He’s been an educator for 20 years and currently serves as treasurer of the Lapeer Education Association. With school buildings closed in the spring, Lothrop and his teaching colleagues did their best to educate students with engineering design challenges they could do using materials at home. He admits the classes are difficult to replicate on the computer. “There’s been a push in the last couple years to say, ‘We don’t need teachers; we can do this all online,’” he said. “I say no. Kids need human contact and they want the chance to do science and engineering directly.”
A registered nurse and full-time senior faculty member at the college, Banks was teaching classes for students at both ends of the experience spectrum when spread of the novel coronavirus led the state’s higher education institutions to switch all classes to distance learning. One of Banks’ classes that changed midstream featured beginner basics, such as handwashing and medications, for students just starting to take nursing classes. The other class was the final step for seniors before clinical experience and graduation. “Some of the things that I had to teach them in the higher functioning lab was mock codes and what to do in emergency situations,” she said. Normally the students would practice and demonstrate advanced knowledge using training mannequins. Now the only people in close proximity to the dummy patient would be Banks
