HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-07-18, Page 4Page 4 July 18, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
SEEMS
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1WO
MedQuest funding
needs to continue
As the second year of the MedQuest camp ended
in Seaforth last Friday, the benefits of exposing
high school students to the large variety of well -
paying healthcare careers was obvious.
The whirlwind week was packed full of hands-on
activities, the opportunity to shadow various
healthcare professionals at work in their small
town communities and the chance to quiz first year
medical students about the intricacies of applying
for both university and medical school.
And, the 30 Grades 10 and 11 students from
throughout Huron and Perth Counties were human
sponges, soaking up the experience with enthusi-
asm.
They reported that not only did the camp either
reinforce a career path or rule it out, but MedQuest
also demonstrated the value of returning home to a
small town setting to pursue a life in healthcare.
Several students pointed out that without attend-
ing the MedQuest camp, they might still have gone
after a job in healthcare but they wouldn't have
come back home to rural Ontario where we need
them to work.
They also said the experience boosted their confi-
dence that a healthcare job - even those involving
acceptance into the limited spots at medical school
- might not be as difficult to attain as they earlier
thought.
• The observations of Dr. Tom Lacroix that high
school and second year of medical school are pivotal
times when decisions are made about pursuing
family medicine as a career are clear to anyone
watching the weeklong camp progress. Lacroix is
the assistant dean of the South Western Ontario
Medical Education Network (SWOMEN) out of the
University of Western Ontario.
While it's still too soon to count the number of
MedQuest alumni working in local small town com-
munities, it seems the next hurdle is continuing
funding to run the program.
The three-year provincially -funded project that
formed Healthkick Huron is coming to an end this
fall.
We can only hope that as Healthkick applies to
the province to continue its programs, the decision
makers are equally sold on its potential to help
solve the current healthcare staffing crisis.
Susan Hundertmark
Your Community Newspaper Since 1860
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EDI
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Reconnecting with old
friends is worth the effort
An old friend looked me up
on the Internet g couple weeks
ago.
I'd lost touch with Travis in
Grade 10, more than a decade
ago. Prior to that we'd been
inseparable.
We were so young when we
became friends that I don't even remember
when it was because I can't remember being a
kid without being friends with him.
Both of us lived outside of town, on 1 rge
pieces of property with forests on them. - e'd
both been raised by hunters. We had a lot in
common.
I can remember getting home from elemen-
tary school and one of us would call the other,
even though we'd just seen each other at
school. We'd talk for hours. About what, I
have no idea.
One or the other of us was constantly at the
other's house and we'd be up to some kind of
mischief. Camping or shooting pop cans or
building lean-tos in the `bush'.
We had many quasi -legal adventures about
which we observed a strict code of silence.
That code is still so deeply engrained it pre-
vents me from writing about those adven-
tures, but given the kinds of things we got up
to, it's a miracle we never got hurt or caught.
Then high school hit and we started to drift.
I guess it happens to everyone.
We made new friends who
didn't know each other, our
lockers were in different parts
of the school and we didn't
have many classes together.
Then high school ended and we
-disappeared completely from
each others' lives.
Years passed. The next time I saw him was
at my cousin's buck and doe in 2003.
I was on my way in and he was on his way
out. We chatted a minute and that was it
until he looked me up on Facebook a couple
weeks ago and sent me a message.
You could've knocked me over with a feath-
er.
Our work schedules made it hard to get
ahold of each until last Thursday. We talked
for more than an hour, catching up on the last
10 years and reminiscing about old times. We
made tentative plans to get together and
meet each other's girlfriends. Though with
him in Kingston and me in Seaforth, we know
that might take a while to coordinate.
I figure everyone's got a friend like Travis in
their past that they've lost track of and wish
they hadn't.
If you've ever wanted to look up yours, do it
now.
It's worth it.
Ron & Dave
Mom says that if I
spend the whole
summer watching TV,
my brain will turn
to mush.
by David Lacey
Gilligan little mud
come with
Barre„, Put that
; away/
Unice Jed, come
quick Granny's
hoppin mad
Yeah, it's starting
to soften up a bit.
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