The Saskatoon Health Region, Horizon School Division and St. Peter's College partnered up for Rural Health Link on Wednesday.

Over 140 Grade 11 and 12 students in the division attended the day long session at St. Pete's in Muenster.

Alysha Robb works in Human Resources for the health region and says there are plenty of different areas they showcase to students.

"We highlight a lot of our hard to recruit occupations throughout the day. We have nursing, therapies, lab and imaging, as well as mental health and addictions," she explained. "They learn a little bit about the education required, but more about the role. So if they were to choose the occupation, what types of things they would do on a daily basis."

Robb cited their speaker for the day when talking about how career movement can be obtained within the Saskatoon Health Region.

"Our keynote speaker, Rod MacKenzie, focused on that. He started off doing entry level type work, moved on to get some education, eventually became an EMT, and now he is in management," she said. "I think that's the beauty of the Saskatoon Health Region. There is tons of opportunity to move around and you don't actually have to leave the organization."

The region connects with local employees to conduct the demonstrations and discussions to give students a glimpse of the future.

"What we really try to focus on is showcasing that although you might have to move away to get some post-secondary education, you can come back to a small town and work for years," noted Robb. "We are seeing some success. It is truly a partnership with St. Pete's, as well as Horizon School Division, and we look forward to the years to come."

This is the seventh year that the health region has offered the day of learning for students, and Robb says that feedback they receive is almost unanimously positive.

"It's always fun to read the evaluations at the end of day. I would say a good 98% of them enjoyed what they seen. It's not a bad thing too for a student to say 'you know what, I thought I wanted to do this, but after hearing more today, I don't'," she explained. "I truly believe that is a win for us as well. Our goal is to help them make an informed decision for post-secondary."

In between classroom sessions, students heard from an interprofessional panel, which consisted of a psychiatrist, pharmacist, pharmacy technician, exercise therapist, dietician and student, as well as a health information management practitioner.

You can hear more from Robb below.