by Jennifer Kowalewski
Sixty-five middle
and high school students with interests in health-care fields
will have a chance to learn more about careers in them at the
Health Exposition Saturday, Nov. 19 at Grover Center.
From 9 a.m. to
2:30 p.m., the seventh and eighth graders in the Science and
Health Careers Club and Upward Bound students will explore a
variety of health-care areas. The program is sponsored by the
Center for Excellence for Multicultural Medicine, College of
Health and Human Services, Community Service Programs, O’Bleness
Memorial Hospital, the Ohio University Upward Bound Program and
Marietta College.
“This program is
very important,” says Ingrid Auguste-Keesey, interim precollege
coordinator for the Health Careers Opportunity Program and the
Center for Excellence for Multicultural Medicine. “The goal of
the program is to encourage students who may be the first in
their families to attend college.”
Auguste-Keesey
says students will visit health career displays upon arrival.
She says some of the displays will be interactive or hands-on.
After that, they
will participate in an exercise physiology presentation and a
tour of Community Service Programs’ Mobile Health Unit. Then
they will hear Kathy Trace, director of CSP, talk about health
issues facing adolescents.
After lunch,
students will participate in sessions about cultural competency,
dietetics and hearing.
The cultural
competency session, says Auguste-Kessey, will show students the
importance of possessing understanding and knowledge of people
from various cultural and social backgrounds. “Cultural
competency,” she says, “is almost a requirement for today’s
physicians. This is something these young students can begin to
learn now, long before they become health-care professionals.”
All middle school
students attending the Health Exposition have a real interest in
a health related field. Auguste-Keesey says the Science and
Health Careers Club at their schools help students with math,
science and cultural competency.
Another club
outing — to O’Bleness Memorial Hospital — will occur in April.
“Our activities
expose them to health career opportunities,” she says. “We
follow them through high school and encourage them to
participate in Upward Bound starting at tenth grade. Our goal is
to get them into college and to pursue a health career major.
For the center, it is a long-term investment with these
students. These students may attend OU or OU-COM in the future.
One day they may serve as physicians in Southeastern Ohio.”
Participating
middle schools include Alexander Junior High, Meigs Middle
School, Trimble Middle School and Vinton Junior High School.
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News for
the week of Nov
14 –
Nov 19
