For one day, nine young people from Indigenous communities were able to visit the Peter Lougheed Hospital Center in Calgary, an initiative aimed at introducing them to careers related to the health system.
On the program: cardiopulmonary resuscitation competition, handling of a respiratory simulator and even making plaster.
Alberta Health Services’ initiative aims to encourage young people who are at the age of making educational choices to pursue careers needed to operate a hospital. This year’s event is the first of its kind in Calgary to specifically target Indigenous participants.
Encouraging a career in health
Wendy Keller, patient care manager at the hospital, explains that the point of welcoming these young people is to introduce them to all the careers related to the world of care.
So it’s not just nurses and doctors, but a whole range of people who are in trades, technical programs, university programs… So there’s room for everyone.
A quote from Wendy Keller, Patient Care Manager
We hope this will encourage them to explore careers in health care as they progress through their studies, Keller continues.
Through demonstrations and simulations, students in grades nine through twelve come into contact with health care professionals of all kinds. The latter use the workshops to explain the importance of their role and what the type of treatment they provide consists of.
Thanks to her grandmother, who is a nurse, ninth-grader Tavia McKinnon already knows a little about this world. Nevertheless, this day convinces her to prioritize biology classes in order to pursue a career in the health field.
I feel more certain about what I want to do in a hospital now; I’m leaning more towards respiratory therapist, pharmacist or even just nurse, says the teenager, who specifies that in the morning, she still had no idea what career to turn to.
