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ARCHIVE NEWS - Issue
9
Petronila Colonia Health Fair
CHHCD Hosts Coahuila Faculty and Students
South Texas AHEC Highlighted at National GEAR UP! Conference
South Texas AHEC Directors Plan for Success
CATCH Academy Held at UTHSCSA
Winter Garden Border AHEC Welcomes New Board Member
Annual OSHA Training Course & Jurisprudence Course for Dentists & Hygienists
ESL Institute Workshop
Summer Biomedical Program 2006
AHEC College Academy
NEWSLETTER
ARCHIVE
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Petronila Colonia Health Fair
Jose S. Jones, Jr.
Medical students
screen patients
at the Petronila
Colonia health
fair. |
On June 17, 2006 a group of Corpus Christi doctors; medical students from the UTHSCSA Frontera de Salud; Mr. Lionel and Mrs. Juanita Lopez, founders of the South Texas Colonia Initiative, Inc.; and other volunteers gave up their Saturday to help residents living in the colonias in Nueces County. The medical students provided free checkups at Saint Vivian Catholic Church in Petronila. Some of the agencies providing health educational materials were Community Health Workers with the CHRISTUS SPOHN Family Health System and representatives from the Catholic Charities.
About 50 residents from Petronila and surrounding colonias attended the health fair. For some of these residents, it was their first checkup in years and the intent of the health fair was that it require very little effort on the part of participants. The residents just stepped in and were asked to check their blood pressure and sugar. Mr. Ruben Ochoa said “it’s not going hurt anything.” Checking someone’s blood sugar level is simple. You just wipe the finger down with alcohol, a special device makes a small hole, a drop of blood is taken and you get a digital read out in 15 seconds. As for Ms. Lilly Hartman, it had been eight years since she had any kind of blood work done. No one gets turned away at these health fairs, even if has been years since the last check up.
The health fair is a two-way street for the medical students. alud medical student Rachel Giese said, “It’s mutually beneficial; they get the free care and consultation, and we really appreciate them letting us ask questions.”
Medical student Daisy Nieto said, “I think that health care should be a basic human right and it shouldn’t matter how much money you make, where you come from or whether or not you can afford health insurance. To me that doesn’t mean anything. But for some people checkups like these – they mean everything.”
Frontera de Salud has reached about 300 patients per year through student volunteer trips to Laredo and Corpus Christi, providing crucial clinical interventions and preventive health care to the underserved. These visits are often the only opportunity for the residents/patients to obtain any form of health care. In the past year, they have partnered with Mercy Ministries in Laredo to provide the population with well-woman exams, sports physicals, vaccinations, glucose screenings, and preventive health care education.
The partnership with e to the people of Brownsville has been such a success that the focus of the UTHSCSA chapter of Frontera de Salud shifted toward Laredo and colonias of Corpus Christi. Having already made trips to these locations and provided health care for the people, it is evident that the need might be even greater than that in Brownsville. As students of a medical school so dedicated to serving South Texas, they have a great commitment to the people of Laredo and Corpus Christi. The encounters with these wonderful and deserving patients continue to humble and re-energize them.
Information from article by Online Reporter – Michael Dupré, KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, TX and Christian Corbitt – Frontera de Salud Newsletter.
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CHHCD Hosts Coahuila Faculty and Students
Larry Morning Star, Dr.PH
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Medical
students and
faculty from
the
Universidad
de Coahuila,
Mexico,
visit
UTHSCSA‘s
Center for
Health and
Health Care
Disparities
and the
South Texas
AHEC. |
Dr. Larry Morning Star, Director of the Center for Health and Health Care Disparities, recently hosted faculty and 14 third and fourth year honor students from La Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Coahuila, Mexico at the Center’s Bluffcreek Tower office building. Dr. Morning Star was joined in the visit by Health Science Center faculty Dr. Thelma Hurd and Dr. Raquel Romero. Also welcoming the group was Dr. Tina Fields of the Center for South Texas Programs, Ms. Paula Winkler, of the South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC), and Mr. Jose Jones from the Health Education Training Center (HETC).
Dr. Jorge Pacheco and Dr. Jose Luis Carrillo have partnered with Dr. Morning Star to identify methods for planning and building strong educational and institutional research projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. They have specific interest in research issues related to diabetes, hypertension and obesity, which are very prevalent in the population on both sides of the border. Currently, the Center for South Texas Programs is participating in a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) educational exchange project entitled Training, Internships, Exchanges and Scholarships (TIES) and this meeting was set to further discuss a collaborative project opportunity.
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South Texas AHEC Highlighted at National GEAR UP! Conference
Sherry K.Snider, MPH
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Dr. Tina T. Fields, Ph.D., MPH |
Dr. Tina Fields, Interim Director for the Center for South Texas Programs, attended the National GEAR UP! Conference in Washington, D.C., on July 18-19, to give a presentation on the partnership between the GEAR UP! program at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley Area Health Education Center (LRGV AHEC).
Dr. Fields’ presentation focused on the Health Careers Summer Investigation (H-CSI) camp held for GEAR UP! students at the UT-Pan Am Campus last summer. The week-long camp allowed students to participate in a number of activities designed to introduce them to a wide variety of health careers.
Students began the week with their parents at a dinner featuring Dr. Regional Assistant Dean for Education at the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC), and her daughter Dora, a third-year medical student. Over the next two days, students toured health departments at UTPA, did hands-on activities such as suturing with pig’s feet, and toured local hospitals, pharmacies, rehab centers, and other health facilities. Kimberly Ferguson of the South Central AHEC presented a hands-on activity using a crime scenario and forensics.
On Wednesday, students were bussed to the UTHSCSA Campus in Harlingen for a tour and a visit to the Medical Library. Students did lead testing with faculty from Environmental Medicine and faculty and medical students from the rmal lunch conversations with the high school students. Job shadowing at local health facilities including Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen Medical Center, Su Clinica Familiar, and Dolly Vinsant Hospital was a highlight of the week. Many local health professionals, as well as faculty from UTPA and UTHSCSA participated in the week-long activities planned by the staff of the UTPA GEAR UP! project and the South Texas AHEC.
Dr. Fields highlighted the similarity of the goals of GEAR UP! and careers programs and pointed out that almost every state has an AHEC. While some GEAR UP! programs were aware of AHEC and a few had even partnered with their local AHECs, many were unaware of this valuable resource in their area.
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South Texas AHEC Directors Plan for Success
Sherry K. Snider, MPH
The center directors of the five regional AHEC centers in South Texas met on July 27-28 to develop their strategic plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The AHEC Centers have a long history of successful partnerships within their individual regions, but have recently renewed their focus on developing their identity as a regional collaborative across South Texas.
The goal of the meeting was to develop a detailed plan that would guide fiscal and programmatic decisions for fiscal year 2006-07. Topics discussed during the planning were the enhancement of a regional identity, sustainability issues, and partnership parameters, challenges and opportunities. At the conclusion of the two day meeting, a plan had been drafted and its first steps initiated.
Attending the meeting were Mr. Gilbert Torres, director of the Lower Rio Grande Valley AHEC; Dr. Gladys Keene and Julie Bazan, director and office manager for the Mid Rio Grande Border AHEC; Ms. Paula Winkler, director of the South Central AHEC; Ms. Belinda Flores, director of the South Coastal AHEC; Ms. Dalilah Flores of the Winter Garden Border AHEC; and Ms. Sherry Snider, Program Director for the South Texas AHEC. Dr. Tina Fields, Interim Director for the Center for South Texas Programs, and Mr. Charles Longanecker, CSTP’s accountant, also attended a portion of the meeting.
The directors are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and look forward to working together as the South Texas AHEC to work with their communities for better health.
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CATCH Academy Held at UTHSCSA
From The HSC News
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Jasmine
Velasquez,
student at
Dilley High
School,
makes a mold
impression
with stone
of an ideal
set of teeth
during the
dental
hygiene
department
visit on
Monday, July
17. Tina
Stein, R.D.H.,
B.S.,
clinical
instructor
of dental
hygiene,
assists her. |
The South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC), a division of the Center for South Texas Programs, partnered with the School of Allied Health Sciences last week to welcome 19 South Texas high school students to the second annual CATCH (Community Approach to Careers in Health) Academy.
A one-week camp, the CATCH Academy is designed for select students and their teachers. The academy not only teaches leadership skills and introduces students to a health science center environment, it also introduces them to specific allied health topics.
The same schools that participated in last year’s academy took part in the activities again this year. The schools include Alexander Magnet High School in Laredo, Dilley High School, Fredericksburg High School and South San Antonio High School.
“Most of these students were already involved with health career programs that their peers developed at the CATCH Academy last year,” said Kimberly Ferguson, health careers opportunity program coordinator in the AHEC and primary coordinator of the academy. “They all have strong leadership skills and a lot of potential.”
The students spent the week participating in hands-on activities and learning the importance of the allied health careers by visiting nine departments at the School of Allied Health Sciences. Their exposure to the allied health field allowed each group to develop unique community projects. They were also able to build upon the foundation of the health career clubs established last year at their schools.
Teachers also took part in the academy throughout the week. They learned how to assist the students in marketing the clubs. They will also supervise the students and their programs once they return to their schools.
The CATCH Academy is a longitudinal approach to incorporating health careers into schools. Health Science Center allied health students will serve as mentors to the high school students throughout the academic school year. The students will return next spring to give an update of their projects.
The CATCH Academy was made possible by many individuals, including Douglas Murphy, Ph.D., associate dean for the School of Allied Health Sciences; Tina Fields, Ph.D., M.P.H., interim director for South Texas Programs; Sherry K. Snider, M.P.H., program director for South Texas AHEC; Paula Winkler, M.Ed., director of South Central AHEC; Kimberly Ferguson, C.H.E.S., health careers opportunities program coordinator; and Vanessa Alicea, community health intern at the South Central AHEC from Texas A&M University.
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Winter Garden Border AHEC Welcomes New Board Member
Dalilah Flores
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Dr. Edson Martinez joins the Winter Garden Border AHEC Board of Directors. |
The Winter Garden Border-AHEC Board of Trustees is pleased to welcome Dr. Edson Martinez. Dr. Martinez has been the Dental Director at the United Medical Centers in Eagle Pass, Texas since 2001.
Dr. Martinez was a 1993 graduate of Del Rio High School and understands the impact and importance of the work that AHEC does, having participated in the Winter Garden Border AHEC’s health careers opportunity program (HCOP). Following his graduation from St. Mary’s University, Dr. Martinez was again the beneficiary of AHEC programming when he participated in AHEC rotations in Harlingen and Eagle Pass. Dr. Martinez graduated from the UTHSCSA Dental School in 2001.
With his background and relationship with AHEC, we look forward to Dr. Martinez working with our Board of Directors. We feel he will be a true asset to the Winter Garden Border AHEC.
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Annual OSHA Training Course & Jurisprudence Course for Dentists & Hygienists
Julie Bazan
The Mid Rio Grande Border Area Health Education Center hosted the Annual OSHA Training Course & Jurisprudence Course on June 2, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the UTHSCSA-Laredo Campus in Laredo, Texas. The course was presented by Dr. Robert Cooley, D.M.D., M.S., a retired Associate Professor from the Department of General Dentistry at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. This course is designed to give the dentists and dental hygienists an overview of the State Board Rules and the Dental Practice Act from which the State Board Rules are derived. The course also meets the annual OSHA training requirements and reviews an update with OSHA requirements and procedures. A total of 88 participants attended the course.
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ESL Institute Workshop
Julie Bazan
The MRGB Area Health Education Center hosted a workshop for Texas A&M International University and United Independent School District (UISD) at UTHSCSA –Laredo Campus in Laredo, Texas on June 5, 2006 from 12:00 noon to 7:00 p.m. This workshop enhanced the Bilingual and ESL Instructional Program that is currently implemented at the UISD campuses. The workshop provided tools and teaching skills that will assist the teachers in developing new programs to help students develop their language skills and improve their educational performance. A total of 55 teachers attended this workshop.
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Summer Biomedical Program 2006
Julie Bazan
The MRGB Area Health Education Center offered the Summer Biomedical Program from June 11 – 16, 2006 at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas. This year, the program served 23 students from the Laredo Health and Science Magnet High Schools, the Zapata High School and Carrizo Springs High School. These students had the opportunity to tour the UTHSCSA schools of allied health, medicine, nursing and dentistry and participate in hands-on activities throughout the course of the week. The students traveled via charter bus with three chaperones and were housed at St. Mary’s University dormitories. Faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio that served as coordinators for the event were Gustavo Zardeneta, Ph.D. and Sophie Pina, Ph.D. At the end of the trip, the students were given an evaluation tool to evaluate the program. The overall evaluation was excellent and students were “excited and eager to share their experience with their friends and family.”
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AHEC College Academy
Julie Bazan
The MRGB Area Health Education Center offered the AHEC College Academy from June 19 – 23, 2006 at UTHSCSA – Laredo Campus from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon. This program is a one-week summer program for high school students whose goal is to provide training that will prepare high school students for the school-to-college/career process. Training is provided in the areas of personal skills assessment; academic awareness; standardized testing preparation; health care exploration; college search, application & portfolio creation; and college survival skills. The program served 205 students. Students present were able to provide feedback about the program:
“This program gave me so much more knowledge about things that lay ahead for me after graduating”
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NEWSLETTER
ARCHIVE
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