PURSUITS 2011! - Business Education Council of Niagara

HEALTH
CAMP
By JAMIE WILSON, Co-op student
Jamie completed his placement at the Business Education Council where he focused his efforts
on marketing and promotion from February to June 2010.
Twenty-four students from Niagara’s secondary schools took part in a March Break program last year with
the Niagara Health System. “Take CARE (Career Awareness and Resource Exploration) of Your Future,”
was designed to introduce students in Grade 11 and 12 to career opportunities in health care.
The week-long health camp is run through a partnership between the Niagara Health System, Business Education
Council, Brock University, District School Board of Niagara, Niagara College, Niagara Workforce Planning
Board and Niagara Catholic District School Board.
Throughout the week 24 students were able to learn about the health care system by exploring various areas
of the Welland hospital, talking to current medical students and listening to staff presentations.
Students from Notre Dame, Centennial, Holy Cross, Ridgeway-Crystal Beach, Lakeshore Catholic, Blessed
Trinity, Grimsby, A.N. Myer, Laura Secord and Westlane high schools got to learn what it would be like
to perform medical procedures on patient simulators - human like mannequins - by visiting a simulators laboratory
at Brock University.
“The simulations lab was what I have found the most interesting,” said Welland Centennial Secondary School
student Vrushank Patel. “I learned many new things about health care. I didn’t know that MCAT
(Medical College Admission Test) had a physics component to it before coming here.”
Patel came to the camp to experience other fields and learn about different future choices in health care.
“Meeting new people who share a common interest in health care has been my favorite part of the camp
so far,” he said.
“I came to the camp to enhance my knowledge on the health care system and how it works.” said St. Francis
Catholic Secondary School student Emily Dupuis, “I wanted to learn about everything and it
all has been a great learning experience. The most interesting thing I learned was how to suture.”
Dupuis came into the week with the goal of becoming a dentist, but wanted to explore other possibilities
in health care. “Learning about the respiratory clinics and how it works has been my favorite part,” she added.
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