---

Steve Zimmer, O.D., of Total Eye Care, presents $1,000 to Carla Norelius, Fairview Lakes Community Health Outreach, to support health care courses in local high schools.

Total Eye Care, which operates clinics at Fairview Lakes Medical Center and Fairview Chisago Lakes Clinic, recently donated $1,000 to help support the Introduction to Healthcare Careers Course that Fairview Lakes Health Services coordinates with three local high schools. Total Eye Care, has provided comprehensive ophthalmology, optometry and eyewear services to the Chisago Lakes and Wyoming areas for more than 23 years.

Introduction to Health Care, currently in its 10th year, enables students in the Chisago Lakes, Forest Lake and North Branch high schools to complete a 75-hour nursing assistant program while exploring a dozen health care careers and earning post-secondary education credits. More than 700 students have completed the course since it began in 2000, with 98 percent of those students indicating they planned to pursue a health care career as a result. Partners in the health care careers program also include Parmly LifePointes and the Villages of North Branch.

Norelius reported that Introduction to Health Care also recently garnered a $9,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Health to support its ongoing initiatives.

---