Let's Go Rural! prompts Vegreville student to pursue healthcare career

A Grade 10 student at the time, Hernandez wasn’t particularly interested in a healthcare career and thought she would follow in her mother’s footsteps to become a university professor. But when friends encouraged her to tag along to the high school event, she did.

Learning about the healthcare field for just a few hours proved pivotal for Hernandez. As she interacted with nurses, doctors, paramedics, and other health professionals at St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Vegreville, she began to visualize herself working in the field.

“No one really in my family is in healthcare, so I never saw what it was about until that event,” says Hernandez, who notes she found opportunity to suture a pork hock that day particularly interesting.

“Let’s Go Rural! really opened my eyes…. I got hooked and I started researching what I could do and what I could pursue.“That firsthand exposure and being able to ask questions, for example, with paramedics at Let’s Go Rural! they explained everything. I had never considered being a paramedic, but in that moment, I thought, ‘Oh, this is something else that I think I would enjoy as well.’

The following summer, Hernandez worked at the Vegreville hospital as an intern student for two months so she could get a feel for the various health professions. She was originally drawn to medicine, but after spending the summer working in the hospital, Hernandez decided to pursue nursing first and has applied to the University of Alberta and MacEwan University.

“My role was a bit limited just because I didn’t have the same qualifications as everyone else in the hospital,” she explains, noting it was time well spent.

“Most of the time it was more of a shadow position that would be with, let’s say, the X-ray technician. I would help them clean up the room after the patient, but they would also show me how they would position their patient.

“With the nurses, I got to see what kind of questions they asked the patient. I was also in emergency.”

Lindsay Rypien recognized Hernandez would be a good fit for the intern position.“Valery was engaged and really hit it off with all the staff and all the departments,” says Rypien, who is site manager for St. Joseph’s.

“She was doing our rounds with us, she was working at our social club, and she just became a part of our team immediately.

”Rypien sees great value in exposing students to rural healthcare opportunities early—something she initiated when she worked at the Pincher Creek hospital.

Three years ago when she started at Vegreville, Rypien made sure her annual budget provided for two summer interns even when she couldn’t access specific grants.

“It’s a priority for us to have the high school students come in and have the opportunity to showcase all the great things we have to offer. It’s not just clinical, but non-clinical as well.

“Valery immediately became part of our team. Her communication, her initiative, and her hard work ethic, I think staff were all impressed with that,” says Rypien.

“She was a very kind addition to our team not only with the staff, but with the patients and their families. I had letters of commendation when she was around.

“When there are students like that that come in that are so strong, it really makes the program undeniable, right? You just have to sell it. Hopefully we can have her back this year. The offer is open if she wants to come back.”Hernandez is interested in the opportunity, but is also cognizant of the fact others may benefit from a similar experience.

“I would love to do it again, but I would also like to give that opportunity to someone else,” says Hernandez, who is now in Grade 12.

“It’s hard being in the position where you don’t know what to do [for a career], and it’s hard without knowing what the role is in that career.”RhPAP collaborates with rural Alberta communities to create Let’s Go Rural! events for both high school and post-secondary students throughout the year.

‍Click here to learn more about hosting an event.