July 25, 2007

The South Central Regional Network's CED Team started the project of creating a Healthcare DVD and website in 2003, and completed it in the fall of 2005.  The DVD and website is aimed at students in grade 7 though 10.  The website demonstrates the wide variety of healthcare careers that exist in rural Ontario and the educational steps and career paths necessary to achieve each of them.  The DVD was developed as a deliverable educational resource that serves to lead teachers and students to the Careers in Community Healthcare website.  The interactive website catalogues over 40 careers in healthcare and contains a variety of teaching resources for the target age groups, while the DVD goes into greater depth with a larger catalogue of careers and offering a video component for classroom use.

Multiple copies of the DVD and information on the website were distributed to all schools, libraries, and employment resources centers throughout the catchment areas of the South Central Region, thereby providing hundreds of teachers and thousand of students with a new resource to help steer them to careers in the healthcare field.  This project has long-term benefits for rural communities.  It is a resource that facilitates "growing your own" future healthcare providers, thereby helping to curb both youth out migration as well as fill the need for workers in the healthcare career field.

This project received funding through Knowledge Based Economy in 2004 and received funding for phase two from regional Community Futures in 2006.

For more information, please contact Dave Barrett at Saugeen Economic Development at 519-364-3694 or by visiting the website at www.communityhealthcareers.ca