Health Careers Exploration for Students

Health care offers hundreds of rewarding and in-demand careers. Rural and underserved areas of North Dakota are especially in need of trained professionals. Let EAHEC connect you to professionals who will help you explore the world of health care.

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Fostering Opportunities for Education

Fostering Opportunities in Rural Health Occupation grant programs are collaborative agreements between rural healthcare facilities and educators working together to provide health career awareness programs for students from kindergarten through high school. Examples of some of the community partnerships are described below.

• Devils Lake: Job Shadowing and Practical Experience
  The Towner County Medical Center/Devils Lake Clinic collaborated with the Lake Area Career & Technical Center to allow students to shadow employees of the Devils Lake Community Clinic. After proper training, these students were allowed to take vital signs on patients. This partnership allowed the Health Careers instructor to purchase new equipment, such as stethoscopes, tympanic thermometers, and blood glucose testing supplies to train current and future students of this class.
• Dickinson: Medical Explorers
  St. Joseph’s Hospital & Health Center, Dickinson High School, and the Roughrider Area Career and Technology Center joined together to facilitate a medical explorers trip to the eastern part of North Dakota. The students of Dickinson High School and the Roughrider Area Career and Technology Center were exposed to local health care facilities in the western part of the state, but they desired additional educational and practical applications available in North Dakota.
• Park River: Inspector Wellness
  First Care Health Center connected with three western Walsh County schools to educate 5th- and 6th-grade students on many medical careers. Walsh County students learned about medical careers; participated in hands-on medical tests, procedures and activities; and solved the mystery of the “Case of the Many Medical Careers II.” Students were allowed to establish acquaintances with successful professionals and build relationships with positive role models in the area.

Science Day

Science day is an annual event, usually offered in the Spring, presented by the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences American Medical Student Association for 5th- and 6th-grade students. Demonstration topics include the following:

• Human Health and Anatomy
  Learn about the human body systems through hands-on experiences with human cadavers, including the heart, brain, stomach, lungs, and bones.
• Grossology
  Think fast. What’s the grossest thing you can imagine? Vomit? Snot? Saliva? Are you curious about boogers? What causes B.O.? Want to know more about puke? Then this is the session for you!
• Tobacco Awareness
  Learn about the dangers and long-term effects of smoking, how to say “no” to the pressure to smoke from peers, and what effect advertising has on you.
• Science Projects
  Learn how to perform experiments that teach basic scientific principles. Show your friends—most experiments can be conducted at home.
• Health and Exercise
  Learn about the heart by looking at plastic models and a real (preserved) heart. Discuss how how important it is to keep your heart healthy by eating right and exercising.
• Medical Instruments 101
  Ever been to the doctor and he or she pulls out those odd tools to examine you? What does a doctor see when he or she looks inside your eyes and ears?

For more information, visit http://www.med.und.nodak.edu/publicaffairs/scienceday.html