FINALLY (FINISHED WITH CAMP!) FRIDAY!!

Whew! Today was the last day of summer camp for us! MacGyver and I teach a total of 5 academic camps at a local University and have done so for the last 8 years. It is a lot of fun, a lot of work and a great way to introduce young students to careers in the healthcare field. It is not the average camp with games and playing all day. In these campus camps, students learn a great deal of info about the camp subject, meet with college admissions officers, spend the week overnight in a dorm, explore the campus and visit various college departments throughout the week. And that is just in the evenings! Throughout the day in our camp we take field trips to local health facilities, visit the nursing and kinesiology departments on campus, tour student health services & "play" with all their cool medical equipment and have one-on-one interviews with healthcare professionals such as medical doctors, anesthesiologists, registered nurses, physical therapist and radiology technicians. We also learn CPR, medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, how to take blood pressure and how to assess a patient. The students also particiapte in a number of group activities to promote teamwork and communication skills. The TRU team (you might have seen some of their commercials on TV) visits us for health education as well. It is so much fun to work with the students and they all leave a lasting impression on me. They are typically interactive, eager to learn and well mannered. That being said, I am happy to have another year behind us, but I will also miss interacting with these fantastic students who often teach me just as much as they learn!

Here are a few shots I found on the camera this week. They are not all exactly recent, but close enough! Camp wore me out each week, more so than the kids ever do!!