Hospital Residents Amaze Local Elementary Students with Healthy Heart Lessons

“I think there were lots of future doctors in the room!”

The joy and surprise on the children’s faces from listening to one another’s hearts at Mona Shores Elementary School in Muskegon in February was palpable for three Trinity Health Muskegon doctors.

Each year, a few of our residents team up with Kids Heart Challenge during National Heart Month to bring heart health awareness education to local school children.

This year, third-year Family Medicine residents, Rachael Folkmier-Lane, DO, and David Ziemke, DO, along with second-year Family Medicine resident, Nathan Dills, DO, volunteered to instruct the students by visiting eighteen classrooms in a single day to provide 15-minute lessons to hundreds of students.

These early career physicians expect this investment will pay big dividends in better health later in life for these kids.

“A lot of our health as adults is determined by our health as children,” said Folkmier-Lane. “Additionally, habits such as healthy eating and regular exercise are more likely to become lifelong if started in childhood.”

“We taught the kids about what the heart does and how to take care of it,” said Folkmier-Lane. “We did this with video, heart models, and medical school textbook pictures of the heart. The kids did an excellent job telling us about things that are good for heart health, as well as what is bad for the heart. We reinforced what they knew and encouraged them to continue making heart-healthy choices.”

“It's important to teach kids about the heart because there are some increasing trends in obesity that are known, in part, to habits that take root in childhood,” said Dills. “Helping kids make good choices now can set them up for a lifetime of healthy choices.”

Ziemke said, “We talked about the role the heart has in delivering blood and nutrients throughout the body and that the heart is a strong muscle that beats all throughout their lives.”

“The kids were well prepared and shared with us things that will keep their hearts healthy over the years,” Ziemke added. “We talked about positive things like drinking plenty of water, eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, and the importance of regular exercise. We also talked about some of the things that can be harmful to the heart like smoking and eating too much junk food.”

“Helping kids understand their bodies gives them a good foundation for what a healthy lifestyle looks like and sets them up to make good choices in the future,” said Ziemke.

“We showed the kids how doctors can listen to their heart with a stethoscope,” said Dills. “We enjoyed teaching the kids because they keep things interesting and exciting, and they're always full of surprises.”

“I really liked seeing how engaged the kids were when they were listening to their classmates’ hearts, and I was really impressed with how insightful the questions were that the kids asked,” said Ziemke.

“Working with the kids was so much fun,” said Folkmier-Lane. “They were energetic and excited to learn. I think there were lots of future doctors in the room!”