Career Achievement Awards: Health

Explorers or Learning for Life participants can earn a Career Achievement Award in one or all of the 12 career clusters. To earn a Career Achievement Award, the candidate must provide 50 hours of community service and complete any nine career achievements. The Explorer post Advisor or adult high school Learning for Life group leader certifies that each Explorer or Learning for Life participant has satisfactorily performed 50 hours of community service and verifies that each candidate has completed at least nine achievements within the career cluster.

Health Achievements

Do nine of the following:

1.a.In writing, tell what is meant by the term "primary care" with regard to a medical specialty. Briefly describe in your written report the types of work physicians do in the following "core" primary care specialties:
  1. Internal medicine
  2. Family practice
  3. Obstetrics/gynecology
  4. Pediatrics
  5. Psychiatry
  6. Surgery
b.Describe the additional educational requirements for these specialties.
c.Make an oral presentation to your post, class, or another group, sharing the above information.
2.Lead a discussion in a group or make a presentation to a group on the following topics:
  1. The roles medical societies, the insurance industry, and the government play in influencing the practice of medicine in the United States.
  2. How your state monitors the quality of health care within its borders, and how it provides care to those who do not have health insurance.
3.a.Research the differences in the health care delivery systems of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
b.Using your research, make a presentation to your post, another post, a community group, your school class, or another group.
4.Complete the American Red Cross course First Aid—Responding to Emergencies.
5.a.Study careers in dentistry. What are the different specialties in dentistry and what do such specialists do? Report what you learned in either a display or presentation to your post or another group.
OR
b.Prepare a four-part outline on jobs in dentistry. Under the headings "dentist," "dental hygienist," "dental assistant," and "dental laboratory technician," list the kinds of duties, education needed, costs of education, length of training, and other information about these jobs. Report what you have learned in either a display or presentation to your post or another group.
6.a.Describe two different kinds of work that a neurologist, pathologist, and geriatrics specialist do.
b.Explain the differences in college courses for training each of these workers.
c.Call and recruit a neurologist, pathologist, and geriatrics specialist to give a presentation on his or her career to your post.
7.a.Research five diseases of animals that can be transmitted to humans.
b.Make a presentation to your post or another group on your findings.
OR
c.Make arrangements for your post to visit and tour a veterinary clinic or hospital.
8.Individually or with your post, visit your city, county, or state public health agency. Make a presentation to your post, class, or another group including the following topics:
  1. How these services affect people.
  2. Identify the four leading causes of death (mortality) in your community for any of the past five years. Compare these with the four leading causes of hospital admissions (morbidity) in your community. How is the public health agency you visited involved in trying to reduce both the mortality and morbidity of these leading causes of illness and disability?
9.Individually or with your post, visit a restaurant kitchen or another commercial food service facility and observe food preparation, handling, and storage. Find out the following:
  1. How can foods become contaminated?
  2. What conditions allow microorganisms to increase in food?
  3. How can microorganisms in food be killed?
  4. How should dishes and utensils be washed in restaurants or at home?
10.a.Determine how you would obtain emergency medical assistance from your home, on a wilderness camping trip, and during an activity on open water.
b.Prepare a first aid kit for your home. Display and discuss its contents with your family.
c.Make a presentation to your family, post, or another group on how to prepare for household emergencies and how to prepare a home first aid kit.
11.Discuss with your Advisor or other post consultant the influence that eight of the following people or events had on the history of medicine:
  1. Hypocrites
  2. The invention of gunpowder
  3. William Harvey
  4. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek
  5. Edward Jenner
  6. Florence Nightingale
  7. Louis Pasteur
  8. Gregor Mendel
  1. Joseph Lister
  2. Robert Koch
  3. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
  4. Marie and Pierre Curie
  5. Walter Reed
  6. Karl Landsteiner
  7. Alexander Fleming
  8. Jonas Salk
12.Explain the Hippocratic oath to your Advisor or teacher and compare the original version to a more modern one. Discuss to whom those subscribing to the original version of the oath owe the greatest allegiance.
13.Serve as a volunteer at a health-related event or facility in your community (e.g., blood drive, "health fair," blood pressure screening, etc.).
14.Attend a regional or national health careers conference.

Resources

Explorer Leader Handbook (No. 34637A) and the Learning for Life Web site (http://www.learning-for-life.org)

Qualifying Achievements

Because of the design and flexible nature of the program, Advisors and adult leaders are permitted a reasonable degree of latitude in substituting appropriate achievements that serve to meet the qualifying requirements for the Learning for Life Career Achievement Award.

Application and Worksheet

Download both of the following forms:

You will need Acrobat® Reader to download and print these forms - this free software may be downloaded from Adobe.

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