Over the weekend of September, 30, 70 student nurses got a taste of rural medicine and the Drumheller valley at a Skills Weekend.
    The weekend was hosted by the Rural Health Professionals Action Plan and the Drumheller Standing Committee on Health, along with the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commence and Alberta Health Services.
    The weekend offers participants an interactive, skills-based introduction to working in rural Alberta as a health-care professional. Students can speak with the instructors about health-related careers in the community, health-care provider job experiences, and the educational requirements for specific careers in health care.
    The participants came from Medicine Hat College (MHC), MHC Brooks Campus, and Red Deer College. Not only did they get a chance to hone their skills, but also to take a look at rural medicine, and what kind of opportunities it offers health professionals.
    They also had time to check out some of the local flavour with tours of local sites and social events.
    Organizers of the event have received positive feedback from participants with many expressing they may take a second look at practicing in a rural community.

The Drumheller Symbol Lodge is carrying on a tradition of its travelling lamp by passing it off to the Royal Arch Masons for their centennial.
     Mason Doug Wade brought an interesting lamp steeped in history to show the Mail. This lamp was created about 25 years ago for Symbol Lodge and follows a tradition. It is given to another lodge, and when they take hold of it, they place it on the altar, light a candle, read a bible verse and give a presentation. Along with the lamp is a guest book for each lodge to sign before they send it out on the road again.
    This Lamp left Symbol Lodge about 25 years ago, it travelled through Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, before heading into the United States. They lost track of it for a couple of years before it was located at a lodge in South Dakota. In 2016 it was shipped back to Drumheller travel-weary and adored with plaques from all of the areas it visited. It made it back in time for Symbol Lodge’s centennial.
    To continue the tradition, the lamp has been refurbished and Symbol Lodge rededicated the lamp for Eheyeh Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons.
    Recently it began its journey again when it was passed on to a lodge in Strathmore. Along with the lamp is a note asking that the lantern be returned for the centennial of the Royal Arch Mason in Drumheller, scheduled for April 5, 2025.