‘Rockin’ Docs’ gives Edmonton kids hands-on medical practice

EDMONTON — Some potential future doctors are getting some hands-on practice in Edmonton over the summer.

The University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and first year medical students are hosting a two-week program called Rockin’ Docs. The camps are free to kids who may not get the chance to enjoy other camps due to a lack of extra funds.

Eight-year-olds Ruby Batke and Prova Roy are two of the 50 children attending the camp this week. As the world of medicine and its possibilities unfolded before them, the more excited to learn they became.

“Today we’re learning about the brain and yesterday we learned why smoking isn’t good,” said Batke, with a grin.

“I’m really interested in the head because we think and do everything with our brain and I want to learn more about how it works,” added Roy.

One of the activities they got to experiment with was called a helmet challenge. Using water balloons, the students got to see the effects of what happens to the brain when you don’t wear a helmet.

Coordinators like Barbara Pedrycz hope that an experience like this will stay with the children through out their entire life. She says that it also helps the medical students teach.

“A lot of times patients won’t have the same in-depth knowledge that we do, so it’s really important to learn how to communicate in a way that your audience can understand what you’re saying,” said Pedrycz.