Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu
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.
Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu