Discovery Week (Hanover Post)

[Guest ploughboy]

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Thought the class of '08 might be interested in this, from the local rag. Interestingly enough, it was on the "School News" page, right above an article about teaching emergency preparedness to seventh graders. ;-)

 

I don't think the Hanover Post has an online edition, so I transcribed this. Any typos are mine, not Nicki's.

 

Cheers,

 

pb

 

 

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Friday, June 10, 2005

 

Discovery Week - Getting a dose of rural medicine

Nicki Cruickshank, Post Reporter

 

Hanover - The opportunity to close their books, put on hospital scrubs and a stethoscope and experience the medical field proved to be an eye-opening experience for four medical students during their stay in Hanover.

 

First-year medical students Christine Pickering, Jacquie Schwartz, Kit Fairgrieve and Jon Enright of the University of Western Ontario got a firsthand look at what staff in a hospital setting experience daily. The group said they were given the opportunity to work alongside doctors and nurses in both the hospital and at the Hanover Medical Clinic.

 

The group spent time with family practicioners at the clinic, and accompanied and assisted staff in the emergency and operating rooms and the obstetrical unit.

 

This was all part of Discovery Week, where first-year students are placed in a work setting of their chosen field for about a week, gathering experience and valuable information to educate them.

 

Each of the students had their own reasons for choosing the medical field for a career. Enright, Schwartz and Pickering have family members who are in medicine.

 

Schwartz said having a father in medicine did help her get interested, but helping people is what she really wants to do.

 

"Personally, I really like interacting with people...I enjoy the area of science and medicine," said Schwartz.

 

Enright said his desire to be a doctor came at a young age. "I have a twin brother...when we were five years old, we both wanted to be doctors. We used to follow my dad around at work," explained Enright.

 

Although each student mostly watched the medical staff do specific jobs during the week, there were opportunities for them to pitch in as well. Enright said helping in the operating room was his favourite part of the week.

 

"The most fun for me was in the OR...I got to assist with a surgery," Enright said. "I feel like this week is about half my year's education."

 

Pickering was more impressed with the social aspect of her duties.

 

"I really liked talking to patients...sometimes the doctors would leave you alone with them (to talk), which was good," she said. "That's like a real life situation."

 

Until they arrived in town, not one of the students knew anything about Hanover. Schwartz and Fairgrieve are originally from the Toronto area, Pickering is from Winnipeg and Enright hails from Nova Scotia, and only Fairgrieve had ever been in Grey County, to visit his grandparents in Clarksburg.

 

Aside from their internship, the students spoke to Grade 12 students at John Diefenbaker Secondary School about their school, their course, and what to expect.

 

"We basically told them to be well rounded at school...work hard, but also have a life too," explained Fairgrieve. "We're doing it because we really like it, so it doesn't seem so hard."

 

Discovery Week ended on June 2 for the group, and there was much reflection on what they learned and how enjoyable the experience was.

 

The students said although they're only in first year, their professors have made them aware of the pressures they'll face from Ontario cities and towns in need of doctors. They all understand that doctors, especially in rural areas, are in high demand.

 

"It's pretty obvious that places need doctors...the pressure's there but you make what you want of it," said Schwartz.

 

During an interview with _The Post_, the students said Hanover might be somewhere to consider for a place to practice.

 

"It's definitely a possibility. It'd be a great place to learn and practice," Enright said.

 

"In school, we're always told that we need to have a balance between work and home," explained Fairgrieve. "Up here, they've really been stressing that. That's definitely a selling point."

 

Photo caption: The Hanover and District Hospital hosted a group of first-year medical students from the University of Western Ontario for a discovery week internship. The last day of Discovery Week for the students was June 2. Left, Kit Fairgrieve, Jon Enright, Jacquie Schwartz and Christine Pickering admire a medical mural in the emergency wing of the hospital.

 

 

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