Health education for students in the Prince Albert Catholic School Division is improving thanks to a partnership with the University of Saskatchewan.
The division will host six health fairs—one in each elementary school—thanks to 12 USask nursing students who are completing their practicum in the community.
“We’re very excited about that,” education director Lorel Trumier said. “We have 12 students from the University of Saskatchewan, where they are completing their practicum with us as we speak and as we worked with them there was a desire for them to delve into particular areas of curriculum.”
Trumier said the health fairs will cover topics such as vaping, nutrition, sleep, and screen time, among other topics.
“Every student should have an opportunity to explore and then have the nurses delve deeply in it and help educate our students,” Trumier said.
“It’s going to have a memorable impact on our students, so we’re excited about that fair,” she added.
Dates for each health fair have not been finalized.
Trumier said the health fairs will benefit both students in the division and the practicum nurses. The students will get the benefit of learning about the curriculum and the nurses will be serving the community. The practicum is based on getting community-based experience.
“It’s good for them to have the insights where there’s questions coming from children and students about these topics, because they learn how to be better nurses when they have an understanding of the pulse of what students are wondering about these topics,” Trumier said.
The partnership is already paying dividends according to Trumier.
“We’re very pleased about the partnership and we will do it again,” she said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
