Health ministry shows career options

STUDENTS examining specimens while Hutson Forde of the Public Health Laboratory at Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic looks on. (Picture by Nigel Browne)

Tue, June 22, 2010 - 12:00 AM

STUDENTS of The St Michael School got a glimpse yesterday of careers available within the Ministry of Health.
At the school’s Career Day Fair, Margaret Grant, guidance counsellor at the school, said Peter Lucas of the Ministry of Health had the idea to showcase the different areas of the Ministry of Health where the students could have careers.
“Exams are over and the showcase is a positive way of helping them to utilise their free time and get to see how subjects and careers are related and hopefully be more aware of other job opportunities.”
Just over ten exhibitors were on hand to enlighten students about the many careers available to them. At the Medical Laboratory Technology booth students were shown the different disciplines in that section and in the Public Health Laboratory at the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic.
The Pine Hill Dairy had a display on the different ways to treat and package milk and juice products, from bottled milk to pasteurised packaging to the recently launched ultra-pasteurised packages.
The Dentistry booth held the attention of the students as they were shown the importance of good brushing habits. Auxiliary dental officer Julia Lynch showed the children the links between good oral hygiene and diseases, stressing that maintaining a healthy mouth was key to fighting disease as many diseases started in the mouth or were manifested there.
The fair also went beyond the conventional careers within the Ministry to include the Meteorology and Hydrology Department, The Psychiatry Department, The Probation Department, Pine Hill Dairy and Chillax Natural fruit juices and smoothies. (LK)