Summer Learning in Swan River

It’s summertime, and for some eager students, early exposure to health care careers can be a valuable experience that influences their future decisions. Discover Health Careers Manitoba (formerly the ‘Home for the Summer’ program) offers term positions to students within the health region to provide a ‘hands-on’ experience in clinical, hospital or healthcare site environments that apply to their areas of training. The program initially started with medical students and extended to nursing and allied healthcare students (including career areas like public/community health nursing and pharmacy). PMH and Shared Health cost share the initiative.

In Swan River, at the Primary Care Clinic, two local students have been active participants since May.

Brittan Yaschyshyn,  is a Midwife student, originally from Swan River. She has been working in the Clinic’s  front administration area, attending to patient care, booking appointments, dealing with tasks, and making specialist appointments.  She also has been able to a pair up with physicians and help with history and physicals for prenatal care, updating prenatal records and sitting in on prenatal care with the physicians. 

Abby Facundo is a  Nursing student from Swan River.  She has been shadowing the LPN at the clinic and has been undertaking tasks like rooming patients, taking vitals, and updating electronic medical records with chronic disease.

Both students will complete their terms in August and will be returning to University in the Fall.

PMH offered 26 approved positions this year across the region in Pharmacy, Primary Care, Mental Health, Therapy Services, Acute Care, Public Health, and Nutrition Services. For first and second-year medical students, PMH sponsored 10 positions in Neepawa, Virden, Deloraine and Brandon (in Brandon the areas include Anesthesia, Obstetrics-Gynecology, General Surgery, Psychiatry, Radiology, the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre, Nephrology, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology and Hospitalists).

Discover Health Careers Manitoba

In partnership with Discover Health Careers Manitoba, Prairie Mountain Health Therapy Services welcomed six students in July. Students are at various stages of their training to become Occupational Therapists, Speech-Language Pathologists and Physiotherapists.

The students are working to develop and finalize training tools for Rehabilitation Aides working in Long Term Care across the region. Rehabilitation Aides will utilize the training manuals and videos to implement various exercise and mobility programs for residents across all sites.

“I’m really excited for the work these students will be completing. Rehabilitation Aides will be utilizing the tools they create to provide safe, quality programming to residents to help them maintain their strength, range of motion, function and mobility,” says Jeanette Logan, Health Services Manager – Regional Therapy Services. “Once we have our tools, training will take place for all Rehabilitation Aides on the programs in the fall of 2025”.

Since 2022, Prairie Mountain Health has begun expanding the role of Rehabilitation Aides across all long-term care sites as part of its Personal Care Home Quality Initiatives Project. Rehabilitation Aides are tasked with carrying out programming as assigned from a regulated health professional, often a Physiotherapist or an Occupational Therapist. Nursing has been collaborating with Therapy Services to understand the role of Rehabilitation Aides. It will also be introduced to the new programs, enabling them to assign care to residents safely and effectively.

Georgia Tepleski is a returning student to Prairie Mountain Health. She says, “This position has provided me with such a wonderful opportunity to gain experience and insight into the medical side of therapy services while also making meaningful contributions to their professional development projects. I have truly enjoyed observing the SLPs here in Brandon, as it has strengthened my passion for going into the field of speech-language pathology.”

“It’s great to see students coming from our region and wanting to come to work with Prairie Mountain Health. We have such an opportunity in our region for future professionals to pursue meaningful careers upon graduation. The result of these students’ work will benefit residents in Long Term Care for many years to come,” says Jeanette Logan.

PMH hosts bus tours for students with interest in health care

As far as retro radio goes, Paul Simon had a hit song which, among other things, indicated you could “Hop on the bus, Gus!”. It continued, ‘There’s no need to be coy, Roy,’ and added, ‘There’s no need to discuss much!’

On May 27,  Prairie Mountain Health’s recruitment team felt there was indeed much to discuss and essentially highlighted a version of 50 ways to ‘rediscover’ by hosting students on two separate bus tours, which promoted the many benefits of working and living in rural Manitoba.

The first bus tour from Winnipeg to Brandon on May 26 involved 11 Year 1 Pharmacy Tech students and an MITT instructor. They arrived at Brandon Regional Health Centre, where they were provided information about working in PMH Pharmacy areas.  Students participated in rotating tours throughout the facility to see the various aspects of ‘pharmacy in action.’

“The students were very pleased with the opportunity to see much of what they were learning in the theory portion of their program.  The group reconvened and were provided insight by staff and management as to why they enjoy living and working in Brandon and rural areas,” stated Larissa Kominko, PMH Recruitment Manager.

For fun, the group was treated to a pizza-making and cookie-decorating activity at Brandon’s Chez Angela Bakery & Café. 

From a pharmacy course instructor who was part of the tour: “PMH offered an excellent, hands-on experience to understand how the pharmacy team works to provide safe, effective medications to the hospital. The roles are varied and diverse, never a dull moment!”

Following the tour, one of the students expressed interest in a vacant Pharmacy Tech Summer Student position, and she was a successful candidate. 

Dietitians participate in two-day tour

The second bus tour from Winnipeg on May 29 involved 17 students from the University of Manitoba in their final year of the Masters of Applied Human Nutrition (MAHN).  Their first stop was Dauphin, where students enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant, Corrina’s on Main.  Later, PMH dietitians answered healthcare job questions and led a tour of Dauphin Regional Health Centre and Community Health Services.

PMH promotes its ‘good nature,’ so students went to Northgate Trails just outside Dauphin and near the north side base of the Riding Mountain National Park escarpment, where they enjoyed a scenic hike. In the evening, students enjoyed Clear Lake, which included overnighting at Elkhorn Ranch.

Fresh cinnamon buns from the Whitehouse Bakery & Restaurant in Wasagaming greeted the group in the morning before the second-day trip to Brandon was underway. During the journey, staff noted the communities along the way, including  Erickson, Minnedosa and Rivers.

Brandon’s first stop was the Town Centre to tour the various programs and services offered to the community.  Staff provided tours and insights into their roles to help the students better understand what opportunities are available to them. The group went to the Brandon Regional Health Centre, where they enjoyed lunch prepared by the Nutrition Services staff and later toured the health centre.  The Renal Unit and Cancer Care were a couple of the highlights. 

One final activity before it’s time to load the bus home.  The students, along with PMH staff, participated in a cookie decorating activity led by Hillbilly Hills Cookie Decorating. 

From one of the participating students:

“The PMH tour was informative and fun! It opened my eyes to rural services, which I had no clue about as most of my work has been in the WRHA. It’s great to see how the different health regions operate, and all the Registered Dietitians and support staff were so nice and inviting! Also, the cinnamon buns were so good.”

PMH thanks all staff members who were involved in the tours. Also, thanks sincerely to all local businesses participating in the meals and fun activities during the initiative.

Parkland Family Medicine Residency Unit welcomes new group

Canada Day marks notable achievements across the country and province. And this year, six new residents were proud to begin their two-year training period July 1 with the Parkland Family Medicine Residency Unit based in Dauphin. This new crop of residents includes

Jennifer Setlack, Sumaya Tasneem, Nikita Gonnade, Adesola Alade, Sheryl Diana Moralde, and Abieyuwa Agada. They will graduate in June 2027.

The residents will work with a variety of preceptors over the two years in a variety of clinical settings and in the community of Dauphin, Ste. Rose, Grandview, Brandon and Winnipeg (for four specialty rotations).

Graduates from the last two-year program have started working in Manitoba and Ontario, with the exception of one who is taking a third-year of residency focusing on care of the elderly.

The Parkland Unit began in July 1991 and therefore has a long-standing history of training rural family medicine residents. The success rate of graduating residents who practice in a rural setting is 83%.  Strong dedication from the local physician group to teach along with interprofessional staff and a community that is open to trainees are the main reasons of the continued success of this program.