Quentin Burdick Rural Health Program

ACTIVITIES

Spring Seminars
Students accepted into the program are required to participate in two spring seminars held in February and April. These Saturday seminars bring the students together with their team faculty and site coordinator. Curriculum topics at the seminars include rural health, communication techniques, building interdisciplinary teams, negotiation skills, professionalism, ethics and conflict resolution, and effective public presentations. Faculty presentations combine with hands-on group activities for a day filled with learning, laughing, and getting to know one another.

Spring Site Visit
Prior to the summer practicum, each student team plans a two-day visit to their assigned rural site with their team faculty leader. The site visit provides students the opportunity to meet with their site coordinator and other community members. Students also have the opportunity to become familiar with the area and preview their housing. The visit is an excellent time to do some preliminary brainstorming on possible projects to consider for their summer practicum.

Summer Practicum
The five-week summer practicum is from June 12 -July 13, 2007 and offers students the opportunity to practice the skills they have learned in the Spring seminars. Working closely with their site coordinator and members of the community, student teams identify areas of interest to the community and develop projects that address those issues. At the end of the practicum, the team invites the community to attend their presentation event where they summarize and share their activities. The team also writes a paper summarizing their project activities and results.

August Presentation and Celebration
In August, student teams share their rural health activities in a presentation and poster session at the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus. This August event has been attended by members of the Congressional delegation, state legislators, administrators of the participating schools and departments, community members, high school students who have participated, site coordinators, faculty, prospective students, alumni of the program, family, friends and the local media.