October 24, 2006

Four northern BC communities have been participating in a project thatis intended to make the communities more welcoming to Nursing studentswho are participating in clinical placements.

Burns Lake, Fraser Lake, Mackenzie, and Dawson Creek are the firstparticipants in the “Feeling at Home” project. Each of them hasupgraded accommodations for visiting students, connected the studentswith local hosts/ambassadors, or provided goods and services to makethe students’ stay in the community more enjoyable.

“Over the past few years, our Nursing program has nearly tripled insize and added teaching sites in Terrace and Quesnel,” says Ian Blue,Chair of the UNBC Nursing program. “This means we also have to placemore students in communities all across the region – often incommunities where they don’t know anyone – to gain clinical experiencein hospitals and health clinics. The goal of this project is toencourage communities to attract and host students, providing them witha positive clinical experience that will instill a desire within thestudents to pursue a career in rural communities after graduation.”

The “Feeling at Home” project is involving Northern Health, the Collegeof New Caledonia, Northwest Community College, and UNBC. It started inthe spring of this year when communities were first informed of theproject, which has been funded by the Government of BC through theMinistry of Advanced Education’s Practice Education Innovation Fund.The four communities that are participating in this pilot projectimplemented their student support proposals over the summer and earlyfall and welcomed students in early October. There are currently twostudents in Burns Lake, two in Dawson Creek, and one each in FraserLake and Mackenzie. Each of the communities will also be hostingstudents in a second clinical rotation that will begin in November.More Nursing students will go to these communities in February andMarch.

“The early experiences of the communities and the students will bediscussed at a seminar in early November,” says Cynthia Brunt, ProjectCoordinator for the Feeling at Home project. The seminar will be heldat UNBC on November 6, from 9am to 4pm in the Bentley Centre. “We’rehoping that other communities begin to participate and think of ways tomake their community more attractive to students. Ultimately, it’sabout providing positive experiences and these kinds of activities maybe really important in enabling communities to attract more healthprofessionals.”

The November 6 seminar is open to the media and community representatives.

Contact:
Cynthia Brunt, Project Coordinator, Feeling at Home project – 250.612.3746
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC - 250.960.5622