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Future nurses hold Wellness Fair at Selkirk College

Future nurses hold Wellness Fair at Selkirk College
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Third-year nursing students pose for a group shot during the annual Wellness Fair held at Selkirk College in Castlegar

Third-year Selkirk College nursing students worked together to create information display booths for the annual Wellness Fair held Thurs. March 7, 2013 in Castlegar, B.C.

Nursing instructor Linda Gomez said the research done provides the future nurses with theoretical and practical experience and is a required part of their course load.

It also is a way to give the campus community important information.

"They look at the challenges of other students," said Gomez. "Stress, sleep, STI's, loneliness, etc…. the social determinants of health."

Topics being discussed at the booths included mental health, suicide awareness, diet and exercise, fair trade practices, depression, sexual health and more.

The students worked together to prepare the materials and set up the displays. They are also required to prepare a group paper after the event. Gomez said that if the effort wasn't put in to produce the displays for the fair, the results would be clear in the written portion of the assignment.

Bonnie Jantzen and Erin May said their booth was essentially about "learning to love the skin you're in" and "trashing the negative."

The women had two tables full of information about self-image, body image and the sometimes negative effects of social media. A laptop also played a popular video of a young girl performing self-affirmations in front of a mirror. Fair attendees interested in "trashing the negative" immediately, were invited to read the materials available, then step behind the booth, write any thoughts troubling them… then toss them away.

Selkirk Colllege president Angus Graeme browsed the work done by the nursing students and appeared impressed by what he saw.

The nursing program at Selkirk College is nationally accredited by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing and provincially recognized by the College of Registered Nurses in B.C.