Summer camps introduce young black Nova Scotians to career in medicine

When Kayla Beals got her acceptance letter to Dalhousie University's medical sciences program in Halifax, the first person she called was Michelle Patrick.

The two met when Beals, now 18, attended the first African Nova Scotian Health Science Summer Campin 2014.

Patrick is program manager for the camp, which gives studentsin grades 8-11 hands-on experience as nurses, dentists and doctorsin the hopes they'llconsider a career in those fields.

"I'd say the most beneficial thing I've got from Michelle is the contacts and having someone there to mentor me every step of the way," Beals told CBC's Information Morning.

• Teen uses family's struggles as motivation to land $29K in scholarships

Since that first year, the number of camp participants has grown to 50 from 15, and when the camps begin next month, they'll take place at Dalhousie, Cape Breton and St. Francis Xavier universities.

It's all aboutintroducing black youth to role models in their communities, said Patrick.

"One of our medical graduates this year said the reason why she wanted to go into medicine was because she saw and met a black doctor when she was young. So that in itself is huge," she said.

• Dalhousie University honours grads of Indigenous, African descent

'Unprecedented' graduating class

The camps are part of Dalhousie's Promoting Leadership in Health for African NovaScotiansprogram,which also provides resources and mentorshipforstudents already enrolled at the university.

Patrick saidthe work is starting to pay off.

This spring, Dalhousie's medical school graduated six doctors of African descent out of 108 grads. Five of them are from Nova Scotia.

"To see six at one time is unprecedented and we believe the largest that we have ever seen and we hope that it just continues to grow from there," said Patrick.

Path to medicine

What began as a small group of youth attending a day camp in Halifax has evolved into dozens participating in overnight camps across the province.

"A path to medicine can start anywhere," said Patrick.

"They don't always have to come to Halifax right away. There arethings in their own communities that they can do that will still get them to medicine."

Bealswill start her first year in Dalhousie's medical sciences program in the fall on a full scholarship. The program focuses oncourses needed for entry into medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and other related graduateprograms.

Beals said she's not sure what career she'll choose,but the camps have shown her there are many options.

"A lot of the times your mind goes straight to doctor but there's so many different avenues that you can go into and the camp kind of helped sort that out a little bit," said Beals.

Mentoring the next generation

The work of theAfrican NovaScotianHealth Science Summer Camps doesn't end when the week is up. Patrick follows up withparticipants as they apply for university, offering advice or information about scholarships.

Bealsstill talks regularly with Patrick, and now that she's been accepted into university, she plans to pass on what she's learned when she takes on the role ofcamp counsellor this summer.

"It's definitely been helpful to kind of guide me where I want to go," said Beals.

• Nova Scotia black history course a first in Dal's 198-year history