Rural Health Immersion Scavenger Hunt

As part of the Rural Health Immersion program at River Hospital in Alexandria Bay, six Wells College students participated in a scavenger hunt throughout the River Community in upstate New York. The students explored participating community organizations through this fun “get-to-know-the-community” activity.

Similar to how the Amazing Race on CBS is conducted, students were given clues and had to find their way to specific locations based on the clues. At each of these locations, an agency representative greeted the students, participated in an interview, and then provided the students with an envelope containing the clue to their next location. This activity provided the students with the chance to interview community members, learn about different services their agency provides, and their unique perspectives on living in a rural community.

Camp Med for Northern Borders P-TECH Students

Northern Borders P-TECH logo

Camp Med, a week long summer program for the Northern Borders P-TECH students, took place from July 18th through July 22nd. Camp Med is a required portion of the P-TECH summer curriculum. It involved a 1 day experience at the college (North Country Community College), 2 days at Alice Hyde Hospital, 1 day at Citizen Advocates and 1 day at the Northern Borders School itself.

Students participated in a variety of team building, leadership, and career informational opportunities as a sort of kick off to their upcoming school year. The Northern Area Health Education Center (NAHEC) in upstate New York helped to coordinate and sponsor the camp, guided the students in their first Project Based Learning assignment and team building activities, and continues to provide the management of all collaboration with industry partners.

Camp Med staff developed a slideshow of pics from Camp Med–check it out here!

L. Thomas Wolff Scholarship Winner Began Journey with MedQuest and MASH Camps

Area Health Education Centers always look to provide motivated students with exceptional opportunities to explore health careers and help them to pursue these careers with training post-high school, such as trade school and college. One student from the central New York area, Emily Kuehnle, has proved to be a brilliant student, outstanding member of the community, and a passionate individual who hopes to one day be a physician. She is attending the State University of New York at Binghamton in the fall of 2016, majoring in Biology (specifically pre-med). Kuehnle has participated in past programs, such as MASH Camp and MedQuest, through the Central New York AHEC (CNYAHEC), which played a part in piquing her interest in health professions. HWapps was able to speak with Kuehnle about her accomplishments, how CNYAHEC contributed to her career decisions, and what this honor means to her.

Upon congratulating her on her award, she explained how excited she was to receive the news she had won. She originally did not realize how competitive this scholarship was, but when she did, could not believe that she had actually won it. There is no doubt that Emily was deserving of this prestigious scholarship award–she graduated as the valedictorian of her high school and has been an extremely active volunteer in her community. She is involved, well-rounded, and determined, which is what made her the top pick for the L. Thomas Wolff Scholarship.

As mentioned above, Kuehnle has participated in past MASH Camps and MedQuest programs through CNYAHEC as early as in seventh grade. She first discovered her passion for health work attending these camps. She stated that MedQuest and MASH Camp were critical to her career decisions and future success. She even mentioned how helpful and understanding the MedQuest staff was, as during her time in the program she had lost a very close family member. During this time she still managed to learn and make friends from different schools thanks to the excellent staff that works with CNYAHEC to put on MedQuest.

MedQuest and MASH Camps teach young men and women about potential careers in health work. Students with any interest in the medical field are encouraged to participate in these camps through CNYAHEC. The goal of these camps is to educate students of all the possibilities available to them and that there is more to the medical field than being a doctor, or extensive education necessary to practice. In turn, these students are encouraged to pursue careers in their community to bring health care to rural communities.

Kuehnle has been volunteering at Upstate Medical Center, which provides health care to much of the surrounding community. Through both her mother as a nurse at the center, and having spent time as a patient at the center from complications with a wisdom tooth surgery gone awry, Kuehnle hopes to one day help others in the community as a physician at the Upstate Medical Center. It is students like Emily Kuehnle that HWapps and CNYAHEC hopes to help succeed and reach their goals.

Kuehnle shared some advice for high school students with HWapps based on her continuing journey in health work. Kuehnle says to not stress and worry about what your major will be and instead channel that stress by reaching out and shadowing career options. She believes doing this will either help guide you to determine career goals or lead you to something else that would be a better fit. She also mentions to keep an open mind, especially when it comes to applying to schools. Kuehnle mentioned that she was the only valedictorian in her area that planned to attend a non-Ivy League school. She believes that the rigor of SUNY schools is underestimated and to not pick a school solely on the name or the prestige, but rather where you will feel most comfortable and happy.

Whether it is attending a college within your state, or planning on returning back to your community to pursue a career in health work, HWapps is always looking to help ambitious students to succeed. As many other AHECs would agree, providing these students with opportunities has an impact on the entire community.