Middle school students from Woonsocket and Sanborn Central Schools traveled to the Corn Palace in Mitchell on Tuesday, April 23, to participate in the Camp Med experience. Camp Med was a free, one-day event where middle school students learned about healthcare careers and participated in hands-on activities.

Camp Med was set up in a “round-robin” format where students rotated through stations featuring different careers in the healthcare industry. They learned about rewards, responsibilities, challenges and the educational requirements of each of the careers. There were 11 different healthcare careers in attendance. Mitchell Technical College covered Human Service Technician and Medical Assistant careers. Avera introduced careers in Cardio-pulmonary services, Radiology, Occupational Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, and Physical Therapy. The University of South Dakota and Dakota Wesleyan University led stations on Nursing. Dakota State University instructed students on Health Informatics. Behavioral/Mental Health careers were presented by Dakota Counseling Services. South Dakota State University educated attendees on Respiratory Therapy.

Activities that the students got to experience included seeing and feeling organs from a cow, wearing drunk goggles to understand the effects of alcohol, seeing an ultrasound of the heart, discussing the physical therapy occupation, examining medical field roles, such as flying the trauma helicopter or airplane, and learning CPR.

The Camp Med experience aimed to introduce students to the healthcare field at a young age to educate them on possible opportunities as they begin to explore their future career goals.

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!