A handful of local middle and high school students visited the UNH campus over the summer to explore a wide range of health care skills and careers during the Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center's (SNHAHEC) weeklong Science of Health and Nursing Camp.
Students participated in various hands-on activities with faculty and staff, including CPR and first aid training, applying slings and tourniquets, and using EpiPens and Naloxone in emergency response situations.
The students also observed and participated in multiple patient simulations at the Health Sciences Simulation Center.
"We wanted to give them skills that they could use in their everyday lives and share with family and friends,” says Felicia Brackett, project director for the Institute for Health Policy and Practice.
The students also toured the campus, ate in the dining hall, and visited academic and recreation buildings.
"A lot of them were surprised by the size of the campus and all the possibilities here," Brackett says. "We wanted them to see that college is an attainable goal, no matter their interests."
Marcy Doyle, research assistant professor of nursing, said it was rewarding to see the camp spark the students’ curiosity about health care.
"We had some students who weren't necessarily interested in nursing, but by the end of the week, they were asking great questions about how to become psychiatrists or medical assistants," Doyle says. “I hope they got as much out of the experience as we did.”
Dayle Sharp, clinical professor and director of the UNH Family Nurse Practitioner Programs, echoed that sentiment.
“At the end, the students stated they did not want the camp to end and wished it was longer,” Sharp says. “This is when we know we had made an impact.”
SNHAHEC focuses on recruiting, training, and retaining health professionals in underserved areas. The students that participated in the camp ranged from grades 8-11 and were a mixture of students who attended home, charter, and public schools.
“Career exploration and experiential learning are so important as we try to develop our health care workforce,” says Paula Smith, director of SNHAHEC. “UNH has been a key community partner at AHEC going on 26 years. We appreciate the innovative thinking about how to help ensure that the incoming workforce is ready to meet the demands of today’s health care settings. Bringing the camps experience to high school youth helps us to expose the next generation of the workforce to the wide variety of career options within healthcare.”
While the two organizations have collaborated in the past, this is the first year that UNH has partnered with SNHAHEC to host the nursing camp.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity and hope to build on it in the future,” Doyle says. “It’s essential to continue fostering these opportunities across New Hampshire organizations. We want to be seen as collaborators to help grow the number of health care students and address workforce shortages."
