JR. DRS.

By Holly Marie Moore

hmoore@mankatofreepress.com

Nine-year-old Gabrielle McNeal wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, but on Friday, she got to pretend to be a doctor while her mom, Helen McNeal, sat on the physicians’ table.

The pretend doctors’ office was just one exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota’s Mini Med School event this week.

“You’re getting to try new things and what you want to be when you grow up,” Gabrielle said.

Helen McNeal said it was a good opportunity for her and her daughter to do something together.

“For me it’s fun and educational. She gets to kind of see some hands on, you know the stethoscope, the wraps and all that kind of stuff, she gets hands-on learning and (has) fun. That’s what I try to incorporate, learning into the fun sometimes,” she said.

The annual event is part of a partnership between the museum and Mayo Clinic’s family medicine residency.

Nick DeVetter, a third-year family medicine resident and community health lead for Mayo, said the long-time partnership was started as a way to both encourage the residents to get more involved in the

Please see MUSEUM, Page A2

Mayo Clinic family medicine resident Abdirazak Ali keeps a watchful eye over Jordyn Winning, 12, middle, as she fastens a splint on her little brother Brooks’, 4, arm Friday during the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota Mini Med School program.

Photos by Casey Ek

A child plays with an interactive anatomy display Friday at Mini Med School.

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community and to help kids feel more comfortable at the doctor.

“From the family medicine residents’ perspective, it’s really important to get involved in the community. As family physicians, one of our roles is to be involved not only in the health of our patients but in the community as a whole,” he said.

“For the kiddos, I think it’s important to get comfortable being around physicians so that they know going to the doctor is a safe space where they can hopefully stay healthy.”

The Mini Med School is just one event as a result of the partnership; residents also frequently visit the museum to play with the kids and answer parents’ questions.

More than 300 families attended this week’s event, which took place Thursday and Friday.

Kids had the opportunity to interact with and try a number of different exhibits.

“There’s tons of stuff going on. One of the things we do is a demonstration with different types of honeys, so we have made sage and thyme infused honey. Sage infused honey is really good for sore throats and thyme infused honey is really good for coughs,” DeVetter said.

“We also have a number of different activities, so there’s a station to do fake surgery and get used to different surgical tools. There’s a station where kiddos can try on (stethoscopes), pretend to be in a physician visit.”

Parents are also given resources, such as suggestions on activities for the kids when winter comes.

Children’s Museum Programming Director Rachel Gemlo said the event has many benefits.

“Not only is it just fun to interact with the residents in the area but also… kids are curious about bodies and growing and owies and all that type of stuff, so the residents are able to really speak on that and discover through play about all that stuff,’ she said.

“Just the exposure is huge, too, because kids might get scared about doctors or going to the dentist and things like that, so I think it’s really important for them to create positive relationships with doctors and different topics that you would go to the doctor for.”

Sam Zappa, 5, cracks a smile Friday after fishing out a rubber band from an interactive anatomy display.

Casey Ek