Luzzi Porco spent about two years in foster care before being adopted at age 6. Her foster mother was a nurse, and while she was too young to understand the profession, she remembers the compassion and empathy that shaped her early years. Today, she still keeps in touch with her foster mother and believes that experience helped guide her toward nursing.

"I learned that my foster mom was a nurse, and I think I didn't know it consciously," Luzzi Porco said. "But once I learned, I was like, 'That makes so much sense.' I think it was just her caring nature. I definitely think it was subconscious."

Now, as she explores her future in healthcare, Luzzi Porco said Quinnipiac is already at the top of her list of nursing schools she hopes to attend. The High School Summer Nursing Program has given her a closer look at the profession and reinforced her interest in becoming a nurse.

"I definitely came here wanting to be a nurse," Luzzi Porco said. "This has very much increased my adoration for it. I feel like I'm a very hard-working person and also very empathetic. I was brought up in that way with my foster mom and then with my parents now."

That passion was on display last week as Luzzi Porco and other students participating in Quinnipiac's High School Summer Nursing Program experienced emergency medicine firsthand during an interactive session with Deputy Chief Scott Bisson and firefighter/paramedics Mark Santore and Ethan Simmel from the North Haven Fire Department.

The fire crew brought a rescue ambulance to campus and demonstrated how emergency responders assess and treat a patient experiencing a cardiac event before arrival at the hospital. Students made a mock 911 call, practiced CPR on a mannequin, used an automated external defibrillator (AED), toured the ambulance and learned how prehospital care differs from treatment in a clinical setting.

Bisson said the demonstration helped students understand how emergency responders and healthcare providers work together to improve patient outcomes.

"We were asked to kind of give them a little introduction to the bridge between what happens clinically inside a hospital and what happens out in the field," Bisson said. "Emergency medicine, whether you're in the emergency room or out in the field as a paramedic, is critical to the whole system. It impacts every patient."

The session built on lessons students completed throughout the program, including anatomy and physiology labs, cardiac emergency instruction, electrocardiogram (EKG) activities and cardiac resuscitation training.

Pina Violano, clinical associate professor of nursing and director of community engagement programming for Quinnipiac's School of Nursing, said the experience helps students understand the care that happens before a patient reaches the hospital.

"I'd like to have them have the experience of what leads up to that point before they come to us," Violano said. "We're going to take them through a whole scenario of what happens, how you call 911. We don't want people to be afraid."

The program also gives students a broader view of nursing and the many paths available within the profession.

Layla Campbell, a rising high school senior from Massachusetts, said the emergency medicine demonstration introduced her to another side of healthcare.

"This was one of my favorite things we've done so far. It was actually really, really useful information," Campbell said. "I kind of forgot that paramedic was a thing, so hearing them talk about it made me think about the pros and cons of doing the paramedic side versus getting my BSN and going into emergency nursing."

The hands-on experience is one of many opportunities offered through Quinnipiac's High School Summer Nursing Program, giving aspiring healthcare professionals an inside look at nursing and the many disciplines that work together to care for patients.