WesternU COMP-Northwest hosts annual AHEC summer camp for high school students
For the third year in a row, Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest (COMP-Northwest), which is in the process of transitioning to its new name, the Heatherington College of Osteopathic Medicine, hosted the Oregon Pacific AHEC summer camp for high school students.
Oregon Pacific AHEC (Area Health Education Center) is part of a national network dedicated to improving the distribution, diversity, quality, and supply of health care workers in rural and medically underserved areas. Through community and educational partnerships, Oregon Pacific AHEC aims to promote quality health care and combat the current health care crisis.
Organized by Oregon Pacific AHEC Director Jaime Montgomery and COMP-Northwest Assistant Professor of Population Health Science and Community Health Co-Chief Jeannie Davis, EdD, the four-day summer camp offered high school students a variety of hands-on learning experiences designed to showcase diverse career opportunities in health care. Participants from Lebanon, Albany, Scio, Salem, and even California performed ultrasounds, took part in imaging workshops, toured the Simulated Medicine and Readiness Training (SMaRT) Lab, and conducted fetal pig dissections. Students from WesternU’s College of Health Sciences-Northwest (CHS-Northwest) also led an engaging presentation on physical therapy and the path to becoming a physical therapist.
Beyond the WesternU campus, strong community support helped ensure a well-rounded experience for participants. Students visited Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC), where they explored imaging software technology and learned about various health-related programs, including nursing, phlebotomy, diagnostic imaging, and dental assisting. A representative from the Lebanon Fire District led a Stop the Bleed training, awarding students a one-year certification free of charge. Lebanon Community Hospital also opened its laboratory doors, giving students insight into careers in chemistry, hematology, and pathology, and introducing them to potential pathways in hospital lab sciences.
Several COMP-Northwest students volunteered over the course of the summer camp. Additionally, Oregon State University pre-med students volunteered, helping with different workshops and presentations for the high schoolers.
“During the OMM (Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine) session, the medical students worked together to tell the high school students what they’ve been learning in class. It was pretty fascinating, and the students actually got to get up and kind of look at body structure and function,” shared Dr. Davis. “They partnered the kids up together to see if their shoulders were aligned or to look at their gait. It was very active, very hands-on, and very interesting. The kids thought it was neat that the medical students were kind of learning with them. There were a lot of giggles.”
One such volunteer was second-year COMP-Northwest student Jessica Meechan, who volunteered all four days. She said she appreciated the opportunity to work with high schoolers.
“I enjoyed just interacting with the high schoolers and talking about their interests and what they want to go into,” said Meechan. “It was fun to just kind of connect with them. When I was in high school, there was no medical school nearby, so I never went to a summer camp at a medical school, let alone learned or did workshops with medical students. So, it was fun to be able to connect with them like this.”
The summer camp is funded by state and federal grant funding and is completely free for participants. In addition to a wide variety of activities, students receive free lunch each day, a T-shirt, and a bag of supplies with equipment to be able to take vitals at home.
“Some of the students I’ve actually seen after the camp during the summer, and apparently those bags have been very handy. One of our students is an EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) at the fire department, and he’s got the bag hanging in his fire rack with all his supplies. It’s fun to see him get out on a medical call and know what he’s doing,” said Montgomery.
A special moment for the summer camp participants was attending the DO White Coat ceremony on Aug. 1.
“It was really powerful. As soon as it started, phones were in pockets and they were just like, ‘this is the coolest thing to watch, because you can see all the first-year medical students and how this is the coolest moment of their life when they walk out.’ So, the high schoolers thought it was pretty special to be able to come and watch,” said Montgomery.
