THIS week, Queen Margaret University is holding a fun health science festival to introduce over 200 school children to the fascinating area of healthcare.
The event, Broken Bodies, follows on from the University’s involvement in Edinburgh’s International Science Festival. For several years, Queen Margaret University has sponsored the highly successful ER Surgery which is geared towards young children.
However, the University was keen to extend some of the magic of the festival to East Lothian by offering secondary school children the opportunity to get actively involved with a wide range of healthcare specialisms.
Broken Bodies is allowing young people to use the University’s high-tech clinical facilities and to engage with a wide range of health experts.
Alan Gilloran, Vice Principal at Queen Margaret University, explained:
“Our involvement with the International Science Festival inspired us to develop this event for East Lothian school children. QMU has outstanding clinical facilities and this event allows us to provide young people with hands on experience of patient treatment in a realistic clinical environment.”
The event, which is for school children in S1 to S3, gets them involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of patients in a variety of disciplines including physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography, nursing, occupational therapy, dietetics and nutrition.
Ken Aitchison, Broken Bodies organiser, said:
“This is the equivalent of kids casualty – hands-on patient treatment with loads of fun and the inevitable gore for good measure. The school children deal with three patients – one with a knee injury, a patient with Diabetes and an emergency admission of a patient with suspected stroke. The University’s health professionals then assist the children in using specialist equipment to help treat and rehabilitate the patients.”
Alan Gilloran concluded:
“We want QMU to be a valuable resource to the community. This is a great way to get children, at an early age, through the doors of a university, and experience different aspects of healthcare. We hope this fun, active event will fire up children’s curiosity about treatment and patient care.”
This event not only confirms Queen Margaret University’s commitment to Health and Rehabilitation, one of its flagship areas, it is also providing outstanding learning opportunities for 45 QMU health students who are assisting with the practical activities.
The event, which runs for five days from the 14 – 18 May 2012, involves each school party in a half day session at the University’s campus in Musselburgh.
