About a dozen of th 21 student volunteers with the South Bruce Grey Health Centre - Kincardine hospital, enjoyed a conference and awards party, Friday afternoon at the hospital.

Co-ordinator Anne Nicolson arranged the event which included a tour of the physiotherapy department where Adrienne Pollock explained about her job and the equipment patients use. Danika Farr thanked her with a small token of appreciation.

The group moved on to day surgery where Dr. Mike Gora talked about his decision to become a surgeon and the many places he has worked so far in his career. Alisha Sorbara thanked him for taking the time to talk to the students.

After gowning up, the students then toured the operating room, recovery room and the Medical Device Reprocessing department, under the guidance of RN Christie Graham. Danica Wall did a good job of being the patient for Graham's demonstration of getting ready for surgery. Sana Hussein thanked Graham for the tour.

Back in the classroom, South Bruce OPP constable Kevin Martin, community services officer, spoke to the students about safety – on the job, on the Internet, and on the street. He also explained all the things on his vest that were for his own safety on the job, after which Martin Catalan thanked him.

The final speaker of the conference was Mike McKechnie of McKechnie Pharmacy who told the students of his job as a pharmacist and how, as a third-generation pharmacist, a lot of things have changed since his grandfather's time. Following his informative talk, Isabel Tuck thanked him.

Finally, came time for recognition of the students. Each received a certificate according to the hours spent volunteering at the hospital.

Special awards were given to Raza Hussein and Kelcey Quade who have volunteered more than 50 hours each and received a “50-hour pin” as well as a certificate.
Sana Hussein received her certificate and a “100-hour disc". Darby Watterworth was absent but had also volunteered for more than 100 hours.
Isabel Tuck received her certificate and a silver gift for volunteering more than 200 hours. Fiona Robertson was absent but also volunteered more than 200 hours.

The students volunteered a grand total of 787.9 hours this year alone. 

The group then relaxed and enjoyed a meal of pizza as a thank you for all the hard work volunteering at the hospital.

Nicolson has been co-ordinator of the student volunteer program since 2003 and is stepping down at the end of this session. She will work with the new co-ordinator and will offer her services in training the new volunteers in the fall. She also hopes to be involved in several special events.