Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center has named MedQuest camp director Hailey Hulse as its new program coordinator.
LA GRANDE — The new program coordinator for the Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center is no stranger to the inside of a hospital.
Hailey Hulse has been in and out of operating rooms as a patient, when shadowing doctors and as the MedQuest camp director. Now the soon-to-be med student will take on the role of program coordinator with the organization that has helped shape her future medical career.
“I see being program director as a platform to reach others across Oregon and share my passion for rural health care,” Hulse said.
Hulse began her journey into the medical field when she was a sophomore at Cove High School as a frequent patient in the hospital. By the time she had graduated in 2015, Hulse had five knee surgeries due to sports injuries and health conditions. To date she has had 19 operations for various health issues.
“I was born with a discoid medial meniscus in my left knee, and with the impact of sports it had just kept tearing, left me with no meniscus by 17. My fifth surgery in high school was a medial meniscal transplant,” Hulse said. “I had been engulfed by the medical field. I didn’t want it to take over my life, so instead I used my experience for inspiration.”
As Hulse became more interested in her own medical care she began talking with the doctors treating her about job shadowing and watching surgeries. From there she decided she would go to school to become an orthopedic surgeon. During her pre-med education at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, she learned more about the NEOAHEC, based at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, and its programs. In 2018 Hulse became camp director for the summer MedQuest program, and she helped establish this year’s virtual camp by connecting students with medical professionals.
MedQuest is a program where students who are interested in the health care industry are able to learn directly from professionals through job shadowing and facility tours. Hulse said she didn’t have the opportunity to learn like this, so helping students begin their exploration of a medical career has been one of her favorite parts of her role.
“When you have such a tight-knit community like ours, there is more opportunity to do things,” Hulse said. “We are a community of health professionals who want to share our expertise.”
As program coordinator, Hulse will oversee all of the Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center’s programming while also continuing her role as MedQuest camp director. Additional programs she will oversee include Girls in Science and the Health Speaker series. Hulse will be in charge of scheduling, promoting and determining the structures of various camps and programs offered.
Working at the health education center will be a perfect bridge to Hulse’s next challenge: applying to and attending medical school.