HOSA Students Shine

It didn’t surprise Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy instructor and Fort Osage alumnus Dr. Dalton Krysa when Lynette Jones placed third in Physical Therapy at the Missouri HOSA State Leadership Conference over spring break.

“Look at what she did her junior year,” Krysa, who also serves as a HOSA advisor, points out. “She helped save someone’s life. She’s a great student with strong leadership skills who knows to react in an emergency.”

Jones, a senior from Grain Valley High School, demonstrated her ability to not only complete training but use it last spring when she observed a citizen experiencing a heart attack at the Truman Memorial Building in Independence. Jones and another woman, Tammy West, started CPR, contacted 911 and retrieved one of the Truman’s automated external defibrillator (AED). They provided support until emergency services arrived. Jones and West were both honored by the City of Independence for their quick actions, which resulted in the citizen surviving the attack.

Jones is not the only Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy student who will be traveling to Dallas for the HOSA International Leadership Conference this summer. Junior Bailie Meyer of Fort Osage will also be competing after she placed in the top 10% for the Healthcare Issues Exam. Exam takers had to place in the top 25% to be eligible.

“It’s a big test,” Health Science Accelerated and HOSA advisor Lauri Redmon explains. “They have 50 questions, including an essay, that they have to complete in an hour or less.” The questions cover a variety of healthcare topics, from the name of an epidemic in a foreign country to the primary cause of death in a natural disaster.

“It’s an achievement,” Redmon shares.