Hundreds of KDays visitors perform "Operations" as part of medical school centennial celebrations

Janet Harvey - 25 July 2013

This year, thousands of fair goers get to try their hands at identifying natural remedies, building body parts from play dough, and operating on a patient in the classic game "Operation". It's all part of the 100 Years of Medicine exhibit at Edmonton's largest summer fair, K-Days.

The exhibit features a life-size timeline highlighting the top education and research moments from the Faculty's first century of training the doctors who live and work in Alberta communities. Also included are activity stations from the "What's Up Doc?" field trips offered earlier this year as part of the centennial celebrations, and display cases containing medical artifacts dating back to the 1920s, and copies of historical books about the Faculty. Rounding out the display is a new photo exhibit by third-year medical student Gregory Sawisky. 100 Faces, 100 Years features photos of 100 of Sawisky's classmates from the MD program, along with personal insights into why they chose careers in medicine.

Emma Montalvo and her mom Jasmine were two of the many visitors who stopped by to try out some of the activities at the 100 Years of Medicine exhibit. They spent most of their time at the natural remedies activity where they tried to identify substances like honey, lavender and chamomile by smell. "I liked it, it was fun," said Emma. "I guessed ginger, the tea and jasmine flower. But I didn't know that flower was used for cancer treatment."

"And I didn't know it was used for liver problems," said her mom of the flower that bears her name. "So I found that really interesting."

The 100 Years of Medicine display is part of Our Alberta, an interactive indoor exhibit in Hall B of the Edmonton Expo Centre. Our Alberta is designed to give visitors a taste of the province's communities, history and attractions and also includes displays from the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum, NAIT, and various Alberta communities. The Faculty was invited to participate by exhibit producers TBJ Partners Event and Production Management. TBJ staff members came across the historical timeline (first published earlier this year in the Medical Post) on the Faculty's centennial website and offered to reproduce it at a larger size. TBJ and Northlands covered all costs of the 100 Years of Medicine display but the Faculty will get to keep the materials for use at future events.

100 Years of Medicine is open at K-Days from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily. K-Days runs until July 28 at Edmonton's Northlands Park.

Click here to see a gallery of photos from the 100 Years of Medicine and Our Alberta exhibits at K-Days.