Medical Amateur Radio Council

MARCO and Healthcare Hams, Amateur Radio and Professional Education

Amateur Radio is a perfect hobby for students planning a career in the healing arts.  MARCO AKA Healthcare Hams and amateur radio are about people, the friendly fraternity of individuals and groups which integrate high ethics and moral character while sharing their joy of “ham” radio with others.  It is a multi-faceted hobby offering something for everyone.  It is a very attractive hobby for students interested in medical, dental, nursing and health careers:

• Medical and Dental School are often very hard to gain acceptance to due to high academic standards and the desirability of public service and volunteerism.  MARCO and amateur radio is all about public service.  Become a licensed ham and/or volunteer through our group…and increase your chances of acceptance to professional school and/or an excellent undergraduate college.
• Amateur Radio is about people.  Speaking with others from all over the world and often in remote areas brings you a global perspective.  Knowledge about cultures allows you to exude confidence in interacting with the dynamic population of the USA.
• Dental School admission is based in part on fine motor skills.  The hobby of Amateur Radio is a well know development area for these skills so needed in Dentistry.
• Computer skills…implementing computers to do integrated tasks with other equipment.  You will get a lot of experience with this in our hobby and it applies extensively to what is happening in patient care.  So much of the doctor-patient relationship, record keeping and e-aided equipment is about communication and computer hardware knowledge.
• Emergency Communication.  Amateur “Ham” Radio is the premier source for emergency communications.  Your involvement with this aspect of the hobby brings relevance to your ability to serve during times of disaster and national emergency.
• MARCO’s MediShare program gives you an opportunity to help with charitable medical projects worldwide.

For info about Amateur Radio and Dental School e-mail Dr. Jay Garlitz, DMD (AA4FL) – jgarlitz@ufl.edu