Winona, Minn, July 21, 2008 - Five dozen high school students are in Southeastern Minnesota, scrubbing up for the week. Health Force Minnesota is putting on its first-ever "Scrub Camp" at Winona State University this week to introduce students to a possible career option.

Scrubs aren't just for doctors and nurses this week; they're being donned by high school students wanting to learn about a career in health care.

"When even a very young student puts on scrubs and stands tall and walks into the cafeteria with other students here for other type of athletic camps and says this is what I'm about," said Health Force Minnesota Director Jane Foote.

Health Force Minnesota wants to excite students into going toward a medical career. What better way than to go hands-on.

Read the full story at KTTC's website.

La Crosse, Wisc, July 21, 2008 - High school students with an interest in health care are putting their dreams to the test through a program called Scrubs Camp.

Midwest students are spending the week at Winona State University, and getting a glimpse at what college life might be like.

The five-day camp gives students experience in a variety of health care activities and exposure to health-related careers. This is the first year of the program, and its aim is to recruit and retain students not only for the field of health care, but also for college.

"It's really important that we're able to do things in such a way that it's accessable and they get to meet faculty and other students, so they're really able to start dreaming the dream. That it might be possible for them and seeing themselve in that place is really important," said Jane Foote, HealthForce Minnesota executive director.

Some of the health care fields featured at the camp include public health and emergency medicine, physical fitness and laboratory sciences.

Minneapolis, Minn, July 10, 2008 - Starting Monday, Native Americans in northern Minnesota’s White Earth Reservation can get a taste of what it’s like to be a health care worker.

The program, aimed at attracting minorities to the state’s health care industry, is financed by HealthForce Minnesota. That organization was created in 2005, when the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, using state money, established centers of excellence in health care, manufacturing, engineering and information security at four state universities and 18 community and technical colleges.

Read the full story at Finance and Commerce's website.

Rochester, Minn, June 2, 2008 - HealthForce Minnesota, a Center of Excellence focused on healthcare innovation, announces its fiscal year 2009 funded projects.

HealthForce Minnesota annually provides between $500,000 and $850,000 of funding that improves healthcare practice, education and research. Grants range from $50,000 to $100,000.

Go to the FY 2009 Projects page
Read the full press release by downloading the PDF to the right.