May 26, 2025
Jan Cinnamon, left, Suzanne Kirk and Melanie Hagel are among the dedicated Three Hills health professionals who helped organize and participate in a healthcare skills event for local Grade 9-12 students. Photo by Jonathan Koch.
Suzanne Kirk, centre, Three Hills Health Centre site lead and acute care manager, leads Kneehill County students through medical scenarios using an interactive learning mannequin. Photo by Jonathan Koch.
Laboratory clinical supervisor, Melanie Hagel, guides students through the ins and outs of inserting needles into a mannequin’s arm. Photo by Jonathan Koch.
Story & photos by Jonathan Koch
THREE HILLS — Kneehill County teens got a glimpse of career alternatives close to home recently thanks to local healthcare staff.
Three Hills Health Centre and Kneehill Medical Clinic hosted a Let's Go Rural! healthcare skills event for area Grade 9-12 students in partnership with the Rural Health Professionals Action Plan (RhPAP). Area healthcare professionals stepped up to demonstrate medical skills and simulations for participants, raising awareness among the impressionable youth of the breadth of possibilities of healthcare careers within their community.
“These programs are neat because they allow students to experience firsthand what it would mean to be a nurse or a lab X-ray tech, versus just seeing it on paper,” says Suzanne Kirk, Three Hills Health Centre site lead and acute care manager.
Kirk helped organize the event along with facility staff and led groups of students through medical scenarios using an interactive learning mannequin.
“It was exciting to see the students come through the door,” she adds. “You could tell that they're a little bit nervous, but it's fun to see the light bulbs go off and they're like, ‘Oh, that's cool,’ or, ‘Oh, I'd be interested in that.’”
Melanie Hagel, laboratory clinical supervisor, provided a lab and diagnostic imaging experience on behalf of Alberta Precision Laboratories, guiding students as they tested urine samples, and inserted needles into a mannequin’s arm.
She hopes that the warm welcome students received here will help to inspire some of them to pursue rural healthcare careers.
“We need to spotlight that we’re such a huge team in rural,” says Hagel. "We know the names of everyone from environmental services to our manager — and we all work well together — so we really want to entice young people to consider this type of work.”
Dr. Adina McBain has experienced skills events as both a participant in medical school, and now as an instructor. She provided a review of general wound care for participants, including instructing the students on how to suture pork hocks.
Dr. McBain says it's good for the students to see people who grew up in rural areas return to small towns and enjoy it — and realize the many career options available to them in their own community.
“I just love seeing the light-bulb moments,” she says. “It renews your own interest in the career and reminds us why we do what we do.”
About 40 Grade 9-12 students from the communities of Acme, Carbon, Linden, Three Hills and Trochu participated in the Let’s Go Rural! event.
Logan, a Grade 11 student from Three Hills School, says the event has him thinking more about a career in healthcare down the road, possibly in EMS.
“The intubation that EMS does, and the suturing and injections were pretty cool,” says Logan. “The staff here are nice and I think would be great to work with.”
Griffin, a Grade 10 student from Acme, enjoyed the EMS and X-ray stations and thanked the health centre staff for making it such an informative and useful event.
“They've been great,” adds Griffin. “They helped us out a lot and it’s been good to learn about how it all works.”
Cathy Price initiated the program through her role at schools in Acme and Linden. She credits the event organizing committee, including Kirk, Hagel and rural acute instructor, Jan Cinnamon, for its success.
“This is the most amazing, committed group of people that I've had a chance to put on an event with,” says Price. “It was a working day at the hospital, but they could see the value of the event, and they were willing to make it work and get people on board. They're so collaborative and keen, and their leadership set the tone and made it successful.”
Let’s Go Rural! events are the brainchild of the RhPAP, who work with rural Alberta communities to host medical skills events for post-secondary and high school students across rural Alberta.
RhPAP senior manager, Shanda Berns, says these events wouldn’t be possible without ongoing support and collaboration from organizations such as AHS.
“They generously provide access to their spaces and facilities, and their staff go above and beyond by volunteering their time to teach students medical skills and share their experiences.”
