Health Career Exploration Symposium a Success

The second annual Health Career Exploration Symposium took place on June 25 and was a huge success, engaging 38 high school and college students in health careers exploration. The symposium took place at the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL) in Beaufort and included students from both the Lowcountry AHEC and Mid-Carolina AHEC Health Careers Programs.

The symposium gave students a chance to explore a variety of health careers through active learning by having them rotate through sessions facilitated by volunteer health professionals. Rotations included: neurological exams/ traumatic brain injury, phlebotomy, respiratory therapy, biology, and DNA extraction and visualization. Lieutenant Commander Aileen Cangiano-Heath, MD, Medical Corps, USN, was the keynote speaker and facilitated one of the students’ favorite sessions on neurological exams and traumatic brain injury. The students then participated in team building activities and more rotation sessions in the afternoon, including simple triage and rapid treatment, emergency response procedures and equipment overview, and a high intensity tactical training confidence course. Beaufort EMS facilitated the emergency response session, another favorite of the students.

The day was a success with one student commenting, “I’ll be back next year and I’ll bring a friend.”

A special thank you to all the AHEC staff, volunteers, facilitators, sponsors and, most importantly, the students for making the second annual Health Careers Exploration Symposium a success!

For more information, please contact Lowcountry AHEC Health Careers Program Coordinator Katura Williams at williamsk@lcahec.com.

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