West Central AHEC was a presence at a number of career fairs in recent weeks, promoting health and health care careers to students and providing hands-on experience of common health care procedures.

At Knox College in March, West Central representatives showed students how to scrub into surgery and how to correctly put on and remove personal protective equipment (PPE) step by step. Students were able to practice on each other, listening with stethoscopes to lung sounds and heart sounds and measuring their partner’s blood pressure. Laparoscopic instruments were available to show the students the procedure of a laparoscopic surgery. They used the laparoscopic tools while still wearing the PPE equipment to capture the feeling that they were in the operating room performing a careful procedure on a patient.

The Henderson County Career Fair Event at The Barn in Biggsville was a chance to promote AHEC’s free resources to West Central High School students. The West Central team brought hands-on equipment such as blood pressure cuffs for the students to explore, and provided a fun health career jeopardy game where the students could win prizes by answering health-themed questions correctly.

For the 32^nd annual Carl Sandburg College Career Expo, West Central AHEC teamed up with Memorial Hospital’s human resources recruiter so that students could learn about entry-level positions available at Memorial. The students also had to opportunity to learn more about AHEC’s free resources. Other hospitals and health care providers from around the region also took part in the event, which was held April 5 in the college’s gymnasium.