ARCHIVE NEWS - Issue 2

Laredo Dental Outreach

New emergency Medicine Residency Program to Start in South Texas

Legal Documents Impacting a Medical Practice Conference

Del Rio Health Science Technology Students Provide Valuable Service to Community

Dilley Health Careers Club

Region 6 Collaborative Outreach

"Culture of Poverty" Presentation

Center for Public Health and Community Preparedness Presents at APHA Annual Meeting

CSTP Happenings

Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Courses offered by South Coastal AHEC

UTHSCSA Medical Students work with Promotores

South Central AHEC Partners Locally and Across the State

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
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The University of the Texas Dental School along with the Center for South Texas Programs met on the 14th of December to overview and refine a Promotora Dental Training Manual for the Laredo community. Included were 10 Promotoras from the Mercy Ministries and Gateways programs. Representing The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio were Dr. Larry Morning Star, Director for the Center for Health and Health Care Disparities; Mr. Jose Jones, Coordinator for the South Central Region of the Health Education Training Center; and Ms. Jane Steffensen, Assistant Professor in the Community Dentistry Program.

The morning session was a success from the start. We were expecting to outline, review and norm lessons plans that were developed by the National Center for Farmworker Health , Inc. We expected to get feedback on basic information on the manual, the existing knowledge of oral/dental health, wives tales about oral dental health, current level of oral and dental health (utilization) and receipt of current oral and dental health (access).

Much to our surprise all the current Promotora workers addressed all five areas outlined and surpassed all expectations. There were over 55 specific comments from front line Promotora workers. They all agreed that the most prominent oral and dental problem was “access” to oral and dental health services. There are limited programs for those that are insured (meeting the deductible); services for those not covered by CHIPS or CHIP like programs for those under the age of 18 and more importantly 60 to 80 percent of all adults have never seen a dentist let alone a hygienist.

Most people have not seen a dentist until a problem arises. Most will wait and suffer until the problems get so bad that a doctors visit or and extraction is recommended. There are no or limited services for adults unless you go to Mexico. Basic prevention and education are needed services on all levels.

The lesson plans were changed in format to include objective first and lesson plans second. The content was in English and in Spanish with flip charts. It is anticipated that these training modes will be utilized within the next year.

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New Emergency Residency Program to Start in South Texas
Belinda Flores, RN

The South Coastal AHEC has been hard at work starting an Emergency Medicine Residency Program in South Texas. The program will be an 8-8-8 program, meaning eight residents will be accepted for each of the three years of the program. The site visit for our new program was November 9, 2005 and it was a complete success. We anticipate receiving the formal letter of approval by January 2006.

This project was very important to our South Coastal AHEC due to the shortage of physicians in South Texas. Currently, Texas has only nine Emergency Medicine Residency Programs with the closest program to South Texas being in Houston. The Emergency Medicine residency will allow resident physicians to be trained in South Texas and therefore increase the probability of the physicians’ staying and setting up practice in the area.

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The South Coastal AHEC sponsored a conference, attended by over 80 physicians, in Corpus Christi and McAllen. The conference covered such topics as new Medicare and Stark regulatory developments, medical malpractice, new federal bankruptcy legislation and employment law risks. South Coastal AHEC was able to offer 2.5 Category 1 CME credits for those attending the conference.
 

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Thirty-six nurse aide students at Del Rio High School presented information on health careers at the Middle School on November 18th. They demonstrated CPR techniques, correct teeth brushing/care, gloving and infection control procedures and gave handout bags to all students. Nurse Aide students wore their medical scrubs and practiced taking vital signs on all participants. A question and answer period and a hands-on activity excited all the young participants.

In the fall of 2004, the South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Allied Health Sciences began discussions to further their health careers recruitment mission by creating a summer enrichment program for high school students. That discussion evolved into the Community Approach to Careers in Health (CATCH) Academy.

The CATCH Academy is a four part longitudinal approach to health careers. The first component of the Academy is a one-week summer leadership program for selected high school students and their teachers. The second component is the development of Health Careers Clubs at the selected schools. Third is a health-focused community project developed by the students for the Health Careers Clubs to implement during the following school year. The final component is an evaluation at the end of the school year where all the CATCH Academy participants come back together in San Antonio to discuss the successes and challenges of the program year.

Through our many planning meetings, the School of Allied Health Sciences and the South Central AHEC established the concept to invite four south Texas high schools to participate in the CATCH Academy and to work with those schools throughout the following school year to create a Health Careers Club at each school. We chose four high schools to invite; two urban and two rural, to provide a broad base of programmatic diversity. We invited Alexander Magnet High School from Laredo, Texas in Webb County, Dilley High School from Dilley, Texas in Frio County, Fredericksburg High School from Fredericksburg, Texas in Gillespie County and South San Antonio High School from San Antonio, Texas in Bexar County.

A major component to the CATCH Academy was the development of a Health Careers Club at each school during the 2005-2006 school year. Dilley High School began their Health Careers Club with a membership drive to recruit additional students into their club. The membership drive was completed in October, and the Club held their first meeting Monday, November 7, 2005. To kick-off the new Club, the students participated in a Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) activity to explore forensic science. During this hands-on activity, the students entered and processed a crime scene by assuming the roles of primary investigator, sketch artist, evidence collector, and fingerprint specialist. The students learned about processing a crime scene, fingerprinting, and handwriting analysis. During the activity, the students watched taped interviews of the murder suspects. They used the information obtained from the video and the physical evidence they collected at the crime scene to solve the crime. This is just one example of how the students will explore health careers such as forensic science through exciting hands-on activities.

The Dilley Health Careers Club will meet twice a month throughout the 2005-2006 school year. At each meeting, they will explore a new health career. The Club will also will also host a community-wide health fair as their community project.

Watch the Center for South Texas E-news for updates on the Dilley Health Careers Club and on the other clubs in the CATCH Academy.

Two long-time employees recently retired from the Center for South Texas Programs. Roxanne Felan, after 28 years of service to UTHSCSA, retired on August 31. She started her career at the Bexar County Hospital where she was a secretary for Richard Garcia. She followed him to UTHSCSA and continued to progress through the administrative support ranks, reaching the position of Executive Assistant before her retirement.

Teresa Kypuros, also retired from the UTHSCSA system after 9 years as the Director of the Winter Garden Region Area Health Education Center (AHEC). While at the AHEC, Teresa was charged with developing strategies to address health professional shortages in a 7 county area, including the towns of Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and Uvalde. Teresa teamed with the San Felipe Independent School District to create a “school within a school” that trained students for entry level health care positions and developed pathways that encouraged students interested in health careers to achieve their goals. Although she retired from CSTP, Tere has certainly not slowed down. She continues to be the Director of Laboratory Services for United Medical Center (a community health center with 6 clinic sites throughout the Winter Garden region) and to sit on numerous health advisory boards throughout the area.

The Center for South Texas Programs is happy to announce that Sandra Rodriguez has been promoted to Administrative Assistant II. Along with her promotion, and in light of the recent retirement of Roxanne Felan, Sandra will be taking on many of the duties of managing the office for the Center. Congratulations, Sandra!

The Trauma Regional Advisory Council V (TRAC-V) will house the Lower Rio Grande Valley Area Health Education Center for the next year. The new LRGV AHEC will focus on continuing education related to trauma, for health care personnel in the Valley. Plans are already underway to include a CME track for physicians attending the next Trauma Symposium.

Lower Rio Grande Valley

Mid Rio Grande Valley

South Central

South Coastal

Winter Garden