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For Release: August 3, 2004
Contact: DMS Communications(603) 650-1492
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Dartmouth Hosts Camp on Health for New Hampshire Students
HANOVER, NH - In an effort to nurture interest in medical careers and to address the shortage facing a number of health professions, Dartmouth Medical School will host the first annual Dartmouth Health Careers Camp (DHHC) August 3-6 for New Hampshire high schoolers. The camp is intended to encourage students to investigate career opportunities in health care, increase their exposure to the advantages of higher education, and acquaint them with a broad variety of health care providers such as nurses, radiologists, and laboratory technicians.
The event, co-sponsored by the New Hampshire Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and DMS, provides students with skills and resources to plan for their futures, personal contact with several DMS medical students and faculty, and professional content (epidemiology, interviewing skills) to help them plan next steps. The 15 high school seniors and juniors from the New Hampshire towns of Littleton, Berlin, Gorham, Lisbon, Dover, Pittsfield, and New Ipswich all provided applications and letters of recommendation to attend the camp.
"As our country and state face considerable health provider shortages, we decided to take a more proactive approach to help our youth understand the rewarding contributions that can result from a career in health care," said Rosemary Orgren, director of the New Hampshire AHEC. "We're growing our own!"
Throughout the four-day event, high school students will learn about the health professions in the most demand as well as those in the most need in NH. The high school juniors and seniors will become more aware of cultural sensitivity in a health care setting and study new opportunities in health care, including careers in epidemiology and pediatrics. They also spend a day at DHMC to learn about nursing and radiology, and will spend time investigating emergency medicine at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advance Response Team's (DHART) helicopter pad.
"This camp allows students to explore health care careers through lectures and interaction with professionals during a critical time in their lives when they are deciding about what types of post-secondary education to pursue," said second-year medical student Stewart Mackie, who was awarded a Family Medicine Summer Assistantship Grant to develop and implement the DHCC. "Our goal is to ensure that they make these important decisions as educated and informed students."
The camp concludes on Friday, August 6 when the students meet with representatives from several colleges and present several posters they have made at the camp's "graduation" at noon.
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