Students explore health care careers at a conference in Sudbury, Ont.

Current health sciences students at Cambrian College in Sudbury, and more than 100high school students got to meet with 16 health care providers across northeastern Ontario to learn about different career options.

Among them was the North Shore Health Network in the Blind River and Thessalon area.

It's an area of small communities located along the north shore of Lake Huron, between Sudbury and Sault Ste.Marie. CEO Tim Vine says he likes to talk to prospective health-care workers about choosing to work in a smaller place.

"We're able to do things because of the small scale of our organization and how tight-knit our communities are to make really positive impacts, and I think especially folks that grew up in urban centres like Sudbury or Sault Ste. Marie, or North Bay, they don't always know what is available in the rural centres," he said.

"So I think it's really important for us as rural employers to show up to these events to make connections and build relationships with people."

Vine told CBC Radio that smaller and rural communities can be great places to see a bit of everything in the diagnostic and treatment fields.

He says often, people can get some experience in those settings and then choose to specialize later..

"I think that it really allows people a broader sense than they would in a larger organization, and more exposure to a variety of challenges," Vine said.

"And we've had folks that come through and they get that experience and find that they don't necessarily want to do all of the different things, but they've learned where they want to specialize.Then they can go to a larger centre or go back to school, and we're really happy to be helpful to people along their professional journey when that happens."

Also attending this year's career conference event was Nancy Girard, laboratory and pharmacy manager at Timmins and District Hospital.She said she was impressed with the questions she fielded from students.

"Both secondary and post secondary students were very engaged, with conversations surrounding career aspirations, placement opportunities, and permanent positions,"said Girard in a Cambrian College news release.

Vine says he was also happy to engage with the high school students and the college kids he talked with, and he said he enjoyed the in-depth conversations they were willing to have about rural and small community health care careers.

Another part of Vine's pitch isthe affordability of living and the lifestyle offered by some northern and rural communities. He feels that aspect can be appealing to young people these days.

"We've got an affordability crisis across the country, and urban centres are quite expensive," he said.

"If folks are looking to be able to afford a home, the best chance to be able to do that is in a rural setting."