Medical careers students from Watkins Mill High School got the opportunity to observe an open heart surgery on October 13 at the Heart and Vascular Institute at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

The students were put inside a dome over the surgical operating room where they could see through the glass and they had close view of what the surgeon was doing through the camera that was placed above and projected on a screen inside the dome

Medical careers teacher Linda Mitchell has been teaching here for 12 years in the Academy of Health Professions, and this is her twenty-fourth time attending open heart surgery. “The purpose of the trip was to give students insight into this foreign world – the operating room and the human body,” Mitchell said.

Senior Seanii Wright attended the surgery, and although it was her first time, she was not nervous at all. “I feel like my medical class has prepared me,” Wright said.

Senior Michael Spalding enjoyed watching the surgery. Spalding was not intimidated, instead he was actually excited and saw it as a fun experience

The main surgeon, Dr. Ramesh Singh operated on the patient for almost three hours. His preciseness and neatness when cutting caught all the students’ eyes, even senior Faraz Golchin. Golchin learned “how hard [operating] is, how focused [a doctor has] to be, [how doctors cannot get] distracted, and [how doctors have to] make quick decisions.”

Singh came upstairs afterwards to meet the students. He talked about the heart, positive and negative factors, and he answered students’ questions.

What senior Glen Gabriel liked most was seeing the patient’s heart beating. At first, Gabriel thought the surgery “was going to be a bit more graphic, [and] thought [he] was going to get sick and faint.”

“[The surgery] was great, the doctor and his team were very interactive, [the team] was blowing kisses to [the students], [the doctor] was dancing to music, [the experience] was fun,” senior Spring McCarthy said.  The students “felt like a part of the team.”

Mitchell added, “[The trip] showed [the students] the beauty of working together as a team to achieve the best outcome for the patient. There is no substitute for first-hand experience.”

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Alisha Siddiqi