On April 23rd, three LHS students attended the Skills USA state competition and brought home gold medals.

Junior Justin Knotts, senior Elizabeth Cordeiro, and senior Matthew Pare each won gold medals in their various fields and will be heading to the SkillsUSA championships later this year. Justin Knotts won his gold medal in the field of Medical Assisting; Elizabeth Cordeiro won her gold medal in the field of Nurse Assisting; while Matthew Pare won his medal in the field of Carpentry.

Two of the three contestants had to take seven tests based on seven different topics they would encounter in each of their respective fields. These tests included:

1. Vital signs: Pulse, respiratory temperature, and blood pressure.
2. Filing: Patient records, nurses notes, etc.
3. Medical coding and billing
4. General health test
5. Medical math
6. Medical terminology
7. Patients’ history

“The tests we had to take weren’t that hard. They included pretty easy questions, but they definitely made you think,” Knotts said.

For Medical Assisting, Justin Knotts and other contestants were judged on their skills in the clinical and administrative setting.

Medical Assistants were judged on their speed, their use of correct safety measures and their ability to interact personally with a patient. They were also judged on general office skills, communication skills, patient education, and on a variety of clinic procedures and techniques. They need to be able to access a situation in a short period of time and perform a skill required for that situation, within the time limit that had been given. Spelling also counted for all testing and documentation.

For Nurse Assisting, Elizabeth Cordeiro and other contestants had to demonstrate their knowledge and skill in performing personal care, encouraging patient independence, assisting with ambulation, and performing other routine tasks including standard infection.

“Assisting with ambulation wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was fairly easy, and the judges were very nice with the scoring on each of the activities all of the contestants participated in,” said Cordeiro.

For Carpentry, Matthew Pare and other contestants had to frame walls using wood or metal steel studs, cut and install rafters, gable end overhangs, fascia board and soft fit installation, and install sheathing or exterior siding and trim. “The entire competition was enticing. Everyone felt as if it was a race, but it was all about being calm and working with all the time that we had,” Pare said.

They all were judged on their accuracy on the projects, their ability to read and interpret blueprints, their workmanship with others, safety and proper use of the tools, the equipment and the materials.