Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center takes Orange County Public School students on virtual field trips during Teach-In

ORLANDO, Fla. (November 16, 2020) --- Health care workers from Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) are taking the hospital to the classroom with virtual field trips for students at Sun Blaze Elementary School, during this year’s Teach-In. The virtual field trips are videos in place of students taking a traditional field trip to the hospital campus. The videos will be shown as hospital team members connect with classrooms online during Orange County Public Schools’ (OCPS) Teach-In 2020, which is celebrated during American Education Week, November 16-20, 2020.

“We were looking for creative ways to continue to connect with students, add value to their learning experiences, and support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) lessons already taking place in the classroom,” said Bridget D. Keefe, corporate director, Community Relations, External Affairs & Community Relations, Orlando Health. “Our team members were excited to participate in the video productions to help students learn about health care and ways we take care of our patients.”

The video collection gives an up-close look at one of the hospital’s medical helicopters, rehabilitation treatment options, and innovations in surgery, to show students how the medical teams provide care to patients in various health care settings.

Content includes a medical helicopter that flies 125 to 130 miles per hour (car travel equivalent) to care for patients across the state; a robot that helps the brain relearn to walk; and video game-like technology with buttons and pedals guided by a surgeon’s hands and feet to perform operations.

Each video also includes a frequently asked questions segment to provide additional information to students after the virtual tour segment.

“We are grateful for our partners, like Orlando Health, for continuing to provide high-quality experiences for our students. These virtual field trips are student-friendly, while reinforcing how the lessons they are learning today can transfer to their future careers,” said Christine Szymanski, Sun Blaze Elementary School principal.

The videos were previewed at Sun Blaze Elementary as part of the hospital’s community outreach in surrounding areas of Orlando Health Emergency Room – Randal Park, and will also be available for all OCPS schools to view.

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization with $6.8 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States.

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for its pediatric and adult Level One Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level Two Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health is a statutory teaching system that pioneers life-changing medical research. The 3,200-bed system includes 15 wholly-owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. Nearly 4,200 physicians, representing more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs nearly 22,000 team members. In FY19, Orlando Health served nearly 150,000 inpatients and nearly 2.7 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided more than $760 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com.