From suturing to snowshoes, health-care students have an amazing rural experience in Barrhead
Channel: RhPAP
Date: 2019-05-09

On March 9 and 10, over 50 post-secondary health-care students came to Barrhead for a Rural Health Professions Action Plan (RhPAP) sponsored skills event.  Some of those students were experiencing a rural community for the first time in their life.

For many of these students, like Katherine Bernard Yip-Choy, a first-year physiotherapy student at the University of Alberta, it was their first time trying these hands-on skills. 

 “I loved it,” says Katherine Bernard Yip-Choy. “Everything was so unique, especially if it’s not always in your scope of practice, until you need to try those skills out.” 

“If they like it, they apply for jobs and they come back here,” says Rita Lyster, a member of the Barrhead Attraction & Retention Committee, and chief organizer for the event. 

One of the primary goals of hosting a skills weekend is to plant a seed in the students to consider a rural placement in their future career paths.

"People should really try diversity,” Bernes adds. “Try something new. Get out of your comfort zone. It might fit. You never know.” 

Rita Lyster, a member of the Barrhead Committee, and chief organizer of the event, was thrilled with how the weekend went, and hopes there will be a huge payoff for her team’s efforts. 

“If they like it, they apply for jobs and they come back here,” Lyster explained. 

At the close of the event, Rita offered some guidance to other attraction and retention committees in rural Alberta.  

“My advice is to absolutely do a skills day. It’s an opportunity to bring young, enthusiastic students out and showcase your community. And sometimes, we think, we don’t have anything special, but when we start to look, we really do have some really neat, interesting things.”