With healthy living becoming an increasing priority among students and the local community, Durham College (DC) President Don Lovisa was pleased to host Rona Ambrose, Federal Minister of Health, as she visited the college’s Whitby campus on December 16.

The minister and some caucus colleagues joined Lovisa, Susan Sproul, retiring dean of the School of Health & Community Services (HCS), and Judeline Innocent, incoming dean for the School of HCS, for a discussion centring on the college’s range of clinical-focused health programs – from its newest program, Activation Coordination in Gerontology, to cornerstones including Dental Hygiene and Occupational Therapist Assistant/Physiotherapist Assistant (OTA/PTA) among others – over lunch at Bistro ’67 and the Centre for Food (CFF).

“In addition to learning more about our emphasis on practical learning opportunities across all our health programs, the health minister showed great interest in how we train our culinary students to prepare healthy meals and meet the demands of an ever-growing health-conscious food-service market,” said Lovisa. “It is always wonderful to be able to showcase the state-of-the-art facilities that Durham College has to offer, and Minister Ambrose was keenly interested in how our facilities provide students with hands-on experience as they work towards meaningful careers.”

The minister also learned about the two residential homes located at the Whitby campus that are used across multiple programs to give students hands-on, real-world experiences. One home was built circa 1950s and was moved to campus from a residential street in Oshawa, while the other was built purposefully for DC, offering a stark contrast between modern and more dated building codes and residential features.

When they initially opened, it was expected that the homes would serve students studying toward a number of different apprenticeships. In the time since, there have been opportunities to introduce other students as well, including those studying in the Personal Support Worker (PSW) and OTA/PTA programs. The homes provide students with direct exposure to dealing with clients in a home-based setting.

Ambrose joins a number of other leaders from all levels of government to visit Durham and other colleges across Ontario over the past few months. During the visits they are learning about the many benefits to students in pursuing a college education and how colleges are a solution to increased productivity and jobs for Ontario.

Full details on each of DC’s health-focused programs are available at www.durhamcollege.ca/academic-schools/school-of-health-community-services/.

Oral health is important, but unfortunately not everyone has access to dental hygiene and treatment. In an effort to help those in need, DC’s Dental Hygiene program partnered with Health Mission Outreach (HMO), an organization dedicated to providing services to those who are deprived of basic care due to politics, geographical terrain and other adversities, to offer free dental hygiene and treatment at a clinic in Toronto on November 22, combining course outcomes with community service.

“The phrase, ‘people will never forget how you made them feel,’ can be directly related to the Health Missions Outreach,” said Rachel Dods, a third-year Dental Hygiene student. “(We spent) a day helping others, and giving them the opportunity to access dental care that they normally would not have been able to access.”

Under the guidance of six Dental Hygiene faculty members, 42 third-year students donated their time to practise new skills learned in the classroom, screening more than 200 participants and providing treatment to 95 people who might have otherwise gone without.

“I want to thank our Dental Hygiene students, who did not flinch at any challenge presented to help those in need,” said Astrid Stolpmann, a professor with the School of Health & Community Services’ dental programs. “This clinic truly showed how the dental hygiene profession is an integral part of an inter-professional health-care collaborative in the community.”

The partnership with HMO drew upon the skills practiced by students at DC’s on-campus Dental Clinic, where Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting students offer dental examinations and cleaning to clients over the age of four, under the supervision of teaching staff.

For more information on DC’s Dental Hygiene program, please visit www.durhamcollege.ca/dent.

Durham College (DC), in conjunction with The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Fleming College and Trent University, shared today that the four organizations are working with Spark Centre and the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster (GPIC), to launch the FastStart program (FastStart), a powerful new resource designed to help university and college students acquire entrepreneurial skills and convert innovative business ideas into successful companies.

FastStart is an entrepreneurial training partnership designed to increase the entrepreneurship skills and awareness of university and college students and help them develop solid business plans and take products to market. It is being funded through an $800,000 Government of Ontario grant being shared equally among all four post-secondary institutions under the province’s  $5 million On-Campus  Entrepreneurship Activities (OCEA) program, managed by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).

“Fostering the entrepreneurial spirit among students is a key component of Ontario’s Youth Jobs Strategy, through programs that help transfer their ideas and skills to the marketplace while creating rewarding careers,” said Reza Moridi, Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation, and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. “By partnering with colleges and universities to support entrepreneurship, we are ensuring our province’s business leaders of tomorrow are getting the support they need to succeed today.”

FastStart features include:

• Available to students at all four institutions, in all fields of study, including youth in the community with an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Customized services to help participants refine their ideas, build teams and prepare solid business plans to deliver products to market.
• Programs such as boot camps and student incubators.
• Progressive, more focused programs to students with demonstrated interest and ability.
• Opportunities for students to transition through FastStart to the Spark Centre, GPIC or local business access development centres where they can access additional services to help them quickly advance and launch their businesses.

The OCEA program is part of Ontario’s Youth Jobs Strategy, which is seeing the province invest $295 million over two years to help 30,000 more youth from across the province connect with the tools, experiences and entrepreneurial support they need to find employment or start their own businesses.

“Ontario Centres of Excellence is pleased to be able to deliver this project as a trusted partner of the Government of Ontario,” said Dr. Tom Corr, president and chief executive officer, OCE. “I look forward to putting our years of experience in connecting academia and industry, and our ongoing support of young entrepreneurs to good use in making this initiative a tremendous success.”

Funded by the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE) is Ontario’s innovation system. The ONE is made up of regional and sector focused organizations designed to help Ontario-based entrepreneurs rapidly grow their companies, and create jobs.

For more information visit www.oneinnovation.ca.

Faculty and students from Durham College’s (DC) Construction Carpentry – Sustainable program are excited to share the news that the first four families moved into their newly constructed homes at Centre Towne, a project in development with Habitat for Humanity in Oshawa, last week, just in time for the holidays.

DC and Habitat for Humanity have been working together since 2012 to build affordable housing for families in need within the community at 372 Centre St. S. in Oshawa. DC students have been on site from day one, with volunteer work being matched to course learning outcomes to benefit both students and the community.

“We were able to assist in framing with the first phase of construction, from the still plate, to the last piece of plywood on the roof,” said Don Fishley, professor and program co-ordinator for the Construction Carpentry – Sustainable program. “This past semester, our second-year students framed the garages on the front of the new six-plex building, and installed sheathing, SM board and Tyvex. We were also the crew that started the vinyl siding, soffit and fascia boards.”

The families were selected from a host of applicants who not only provided strong reasoning for their need but also committed approximately 500 hours of volunteer work in the construction of the homes.

With the first phase complete, Fishley, along with the college, looks forward to continue supporting Habitat for Humanity over the next four to five years as Centre Towne continues to grow.