August 1, 2014
Dubois student Jaycie Wells received hands-on medical training in a microbiology laboratory
during the recent Wyoming Area Health Education Center Health Care Careers Summer
Camp at the University of Wyoming. Students learned about the requirements necessary
to pursue a health care career as well as the numerous job opportunities that will
be available throughout Wyoming upon completion of their training. (UW Photo)
Jaycie Wells of Dubois already was interested in oncology when she attended a recent
summer camp at the University of Wyoming, and her experience there reinforced her
career plans.
Wells received hands-on medical training during the recent Wyoming Area Health Education
Center (AHEC) Health Care Careers Summer Camp at the University of Wyoming.
During the camp, 40 high school students from 21 Wyoming communities learned about
the requirements necessary to pursue a health care career as well as the numerous
job opportunities that will be available throughout Wyoming upon completion of their
training.
“I find oncology very fascinating and I want to help people,” Wells says. “This camp
has really opened my mind to so many opportunities I have in the medical field. It
has only made me more interested.”
At the UW camp, high school students were exposed to careers in such fields as nursing,
pharmacy, medicine, surgical technology, forensics, dental hygiene, radiography and
ultrasonography. Activities took place on the UW campus, Laramie’s Ivinson Memorial
Hospital and at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.
Students had opportunities to suture (with chicken breasts); make “medicated” gummy
bears; make a cast; perform an ultrasound-guided “biopsy”; and operate a laparoscope,
an instrument used to examine abdominal or pelvic organs.
“Wyoming is facing a critical shortage of health care workers. Camp sponsors hope
that opportunities like this will motivate students to consider pursuing health care
careers,” says Marivern Easton, Wyoming AHEC program director and UW College of Health
Sciences WWAMI Medical Education assistant director. “The shortage will worsen as
the baby boomer generation ages.”
Each Wyoming county is dealing with shortages in primary care and mental health, and
many face shortages of dentists and other health care professionals.
The key, Easton says, is to identify, recruit, train and retain Wyoming residents.
“If we can generate enthusiasm among high school-aged students and support them as
they pursue education and training opportunities, we have a much stronger possibility
of eventually employing them as health care workers throughout Wyoming,” she adds.
Wells says the camp demonstrated that UW offers a quality educational experience in
health care.
“This camp was a great experience for me. The counselors were very supportive and
took interest in what my goals were,” she says. “I learned a lot about the different
branches of the medical field and the commitment it takes to be in health care. I
am very thankful I got to attend this amazing camp.”
The camp is sponsored by the Wyoming AHEC, UW College of Health Sciences, WWAMI (Washington
Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) Medical Education Program, Wyoming Office of Rural
Health, Laramie County Community College, Wyoming Center for Nursing and Health Care
Partnerships, and Ivinson Memorial Hospital.
For more information about the summer camp, call Easton at (307) 766-6751.
