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Heart Day – Q&A with Devin Chetan

What started as a case study, Undergraduate MD students, class of 2015, Devin Chetan and Sean Kennedy soon turned a health problem into a huge opportunity for education in Southern Ontario.

What is Heart Day?
Heart Day is a grassroots educational session designed for Grade 5 students to improve their health by learning about simple anatomy and physiology of the heart, common types of heart disease and manifestations, and how to reduce the risk of heart disease. Heart Day sessions are taught by dynamic health professional student volunteers who engage the students in interactive activities (mostly medical students, but students from other related disciplines, i.e. pharmacy, nursing, have also volunteered).
This program is offered with endorsements from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, World Heart Federation, Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, and The Labatt Family Heart Centre at The Hospital for Sick Children.

How did Heart Day get started?
One day while working on a case, we were discussing the increased burden of cardiovascular disease on society. While thinking about the root of the problem, we identified a need for increased awareness of prevention strategies in the younger demographic to help reverse this crippling trend. Devin had previously done a presentation to elementary school students, during his undergraduate degree, teaching them about financial literacy. He was surprised at how responsive the students were and how well received the presentation was. He proposed a similar format for disseminating the information to elementary school students. Sean was very receptive to the idea.  
How has McMaster helped you achieve this initiative?
McMaster has been very supportive of our initiative. The undergraduate MD office not only offered to financially support the program, but also provided us with valuable resources to grow at an organizational level. The school has offered administrative support, technical expertise, mentoring guidance, and links to other tools we needed to succeed.

When will Heart Day activities be taking place this year?
Heart Day activities will be taking place throughout the academic school year depending on the demand from schools and the availability of student volunteers. The vast majority of classroom sessions are usually held between September and December.

How can people get involved in Heart Day?
We are always looking for strong members to join our executive team to help grow our program further and enthusiastic volunteers to make presentations in schools. We are also seeking financial support so we can expand the program to reach the maximum number of students and schools as seamlessly as possible. If you have an interest in getting involved in Heart Day, please feel free to contact Devin and Sean at wrcinfo@mcmaster.ca

Founded by WRC Class of 2013 graduate, Dr. Colin Yardley, the MacGic School Bus program invites Grade 5 students from the Waterloo Region, to “climb aboard” the MacGic School Bus and learn about the world inside medical school at WRC.

For half a day, students spend time with the medical students, rotating through four different activities, each teaching them about a different aspect of the human body.
Medical students provide a guided tour of the campus while others are posted at different stations and involve the young students in interactive activities.

For example, in the clinical skills laboratory, the children are measuring their heart rate as they learn about the cardio-respiratory system; finding out about food groups while exploring the digestive system and nutrition; understanding how the brain sends signals, and what happens in a concussion and the importance of wearing helmets; and learning the importance of hand washing in a session on the immune system and germs.

In the three years it has run, the program has attracted close to 300 hundred elementary students.

For more information on the MacGic School Bus program, please contact wrcinfo@mcmaster.ca

Every year, thousands of Canadian students make the life-altering decision to drop out of high school. In some of the country’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods, more than 50 per cent of students do not graduate high school, taking a dramatic toll on our communities, our health and justice systems, and our economy.

Pathways to Education is helping youth in low-income communities graduate from high school and successfully transition into post-secondary education. Pathways addresses systemic barriers to education by providing leadership, expertise and a community-based program proven to lower dropout rates.

Since 2007, the Waterloo Regional Campus has partnered with Pathways to Education in Kitchener to offer high school students from across the Region the opportunity to engage with medical learners and experience life as a medical student.

 For more information visit http://www.pathwaystoeducation.ca/en/kitchener

The Stethoscope Series is a public lecture series presented by medical students from the Waterloo Regional Campus. Our goal is to bring relevant health topics to the KW community, sharing our knowledge in thanks for the great knowledge we gain from community members we see as patients on our clinical rotations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our 2018 topics include:

• Diets and nutrition
• Preparing for medical appointments
• Addressing common medical "myths"

If you are interested in attending any of these sessions, please register HERE.

To be put on our mailing list for future lectures in the Stethoscope Series or if you have an idea for a future topic for a Stethoscope Series lecture email wrcinfo@mcmaster.ca.