August 1, 2014
Students 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. From left are Karah Pantle, Encampment; Piper Thompson, Afton;
and Allison Hampton, Ten Sleep. 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)
Karah Pantle of Encampment was interested in a variety of careers when she attended
a recent summer camp at the University of Wyoming, and health care now is a prominent
choice for her career path.
Pantle 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 want a career in the health care field because I love working with people and I
knew this would challenge me,” she says. “I have decided that I definitely want to
be a general surgeon. I used to want to be an orthodontist, but I think a general
surgeon career will challenge me and I will like it so much more.”
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.
Pantle says the camp demonstrated that UW offers a quality educational experience
in health care.
“The university challenges you and pushes you, and I really want that,” she says.
“This has been the best camp I have ever gone to. The counselors were amazing; they
helped answer and understand all of our questions. This was so much fun and a great
experience. I am so glad I got this opportunity to come here.”
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.
