SUNDRE – An initiative that introduces high school students to a variety of nursing skills seems to have planted the seeds of interest in some other communities.
The seventh annual High School Skills Day, organized by the Sundre Hospital Futures Committee in coordination with local health-care professionals and support from community sponsors, is intended to open doors to potential career paths not only for students in Sundre but the surrounding region as well.
“It’s amazing, every year it grows, every year we learn a little bit more, every year we get a little bit speedier at it,” said Chantal Crawford, site manager at the Myron Thompson Health Centre.
“This is an amazing opportunity for the students in Sundre, classes in schools in surrounding communities to be able to get hands on with a multidisciplinary team,” said Crawford, who is also a registered nurse and a clinical nurse educator.
This year’s skills day was held on Wednesday, March 19 at the eSIM lab immediately adjacent and connected to the Sundre Fire Department’s hall as well as the EMS bay, Maria’s Dental Office and the Sundre United Church.
There were several dozen students from Sundre, Caroline, Cremona and some new participants from Spruce View this year, said Gerry Greschner, futures committee secretary.
“I couldn’t imagine not being able to do it now for our communities; we used to have to reach out to them, and now in December they’re reaching out to us what the date is so that they can make sure they plan around it,” said Crawford.
There were even some observers taking part this year in the hopes of encouraging their own communities to consider hosting a similar health-care skills event, said Greschner.
“We had some people coming to shadow from Olds and Didsbury,” Crawford said.
The program first launched years before the eSIM lab was even available and the stations – including suturing, cardiac, airway intubation, diagnostic imaging, as well as EMS and fire – were all set up in May during National Nurses Week at the Sundre hospital, where special arrangements had to be made with long-term care residents, she said.
“When we did it at the hospital it was so crammed,” she said, adding the EMS station at the time was set up outside.
The availability of both the eSIM lab as well as some space at the basement of the Sundre United Church has vastly facilitated the effort involved in delivering the program.
“It’s made it way better for us, and it’s made it extremely better for the learners,” she said.
“This is amazing, I can’t even think about going back and doing it at the hospital.”
The new training spaces also alleviate pressure from the hospital.
“You put 70 extra people inside the hospital and it gets crowded,” she said.
Some of the students this year had previously attended the skills day and decided to come back for more.
“We’ve seen a handful of them this year that have come for at least one or maybe even two years … they love it, this is kind of one of the highlights of their year,” she said.
“They get to talk to a variety of health-care workers, ask some questions and get lots of hands-on experience to see if this is something that they’re potentially interested in doing,” she said.
“Some of them already have a health care background in the family or they’ve taken first aid, so it’s fun for them to put some of those pieces together.”
Others yet have even gone onto pursue related post-secondary studies.
“We definitely have seen people out of this actually going into health care. Some people that are really interested have taken different fields in health care or started in the nursing programs and physician programs,” she said.
“It’s very rewarding,” she said, adding that’s the whole intent behind the program.
Greschner expressed gratitude for the community’s support and all of the sponsors who continue to contribute to making the annual educational opportunity possible.
