Photo by Lacey Barke Aaron Schroeder, the cardiac rehabilitation coordinator at Avera, explains a heart monitor reading on the computer screen to Kayln DeVlieger, Emma Smalley, Reese Jensen, Lexie Bednarek and Anna Bucher.

MARSHALL — They didn’t roast any marshmallows at the end of this camp, but maybe the campers were inspired to think about their future.

Twenty kids in grades 6-8 attended a scrubs camp at Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center to learn about various careers in the medical field.

“We’ve been putting on the camp for eight years,” said Kim Abraham, the coordinator of the program.

Children with an interest in the medical field are invited to attend.

“We want to help make sure that young kids are encouraged to consider a career in healthcare,” said Stacy Neubeck, the communications coordinator at Avera.

The participants all got real scrub tops to wear for the day as they engaged in interactive sessions relating to all different types of medical departments.

“We have professionals who are staffed here at Avera explaining to the children what their career is all about,” said Abraham.

Big Stone Therapy employees were also there assisting with the camp.

“Avera is partnered with Big Stone Therapy, and some of their employees are here (Wednesday) to help showcase the different jobs relating to therapy,” said Neubeck. Some of the different therapy occupations included speech, physical and occupational.

Another health care profession that was involved was cardiac rehabilitation. Aaron Schroeder, the cardiac rehab coordinator at Avera, talked with the kids about all that his profession entails.

“After patients have any heart events, they come here to get their hearts functioning again,” Schroeder said. Situations where you would need cardiac rehabilitation include when people get stents put in, or when they suffer a heart attack. He then let the camp members loose on the many cardio exercise machines, such as treadmills and stationary bikes.

Neubeck stressed the importance of getting youth exposed to careers in healthcare.

“We are going to need kids to enter the healthcare workforce when they’re older,” she said.

Scott Ault, a workforce planner at Avera, explained how he helps youth gain exposure in the medical field.

“Along with this camp, I also go to Marshall High School and talk about eight specific careers in healthcare that we need people to be in,” he said. “The real goal of this camp and all that we are doing here is to try to get kids to understand and see that there are more careers in healthcare than just being a nurse or a doctor.”