Gateway Centre Of Excellence in Rural Health Now Accepting Applications to Their Discovery Healthcare Camp
by Bob Montgomery
The Gateway Centre of Excellence In Rural Health is now accepting applications to their Discovery Healthcare Camp for this summer.
The Discovery Healthcare Camp is a week-long immersive summer camp experience designed to engage and mentor high school students to consider healthcare career opportunities available to them, learn basic clinical skills and have fun. The camp runs from July 8th to July 12th at Camp Klahanie, just outside of Goderich. The Schulich School of Medicine at Western University runs several camps throughout Western Ontario. Gateway Research Assistant Joel Hordijk says Gateway has helped host it in Huron County for the last three years. The camp in Goderich is unique because the Goderich Lions Club allow them to use their Camp Klahanie, so they are the only camp that is held outdoors.
Their list of guest speakers includes doctors, nurses, EMS staff, physiotherapists and PSWs. They try to cover the whole spectrum because their goal is to inspire rural youth to pursue health care careers because rural students are more likely to come back to their communities after they've completed their education. “It's a great way for them to see the range of opportunities that exist in rural health and give them a chance to talk with people who are currently working in rural health.” Hordijk says there is a difference between rural health care and health care in an urban setting. The Discovery Healthcare Camp gives the students an opportunity to discover the difference and decide if rural is for them, or maybe it isn't, and it's best to find that out before they've made a commitment.
They have room for thirty students and right now they have sixteen. The cost for the week-long camp is $325 but Western University and Gateway are able to help students with sponsorships that cover 75-100% of the cost, so they can apply to Western or Gateway for some help with that.
More information about the Discovery Healthcare Camp can be found here.
