Lion Lamb

The Student InterCouncil's News for Jan/ Feb 2004

NEWS HEADLINES

Annual Health Care Team Competition
Pint-a-Day Contest
CHASE Visits Hightower High School
Medical Mission Trip to Ghana
Health ACTION AIDS Week
ID Stickers - Updated Information from Financial Aid

UTHSC-H Prepares for 11th Annual Health Care Team Competition

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is making final preparations for the 11th Annual Health Care Team Competition (HCTC), which will take place Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 5:30 p.m. in the UT Dental Branch Auditorium.

“The competition, which is sponsored by the Student InterCouncil and health science center President Jim Willerson, is a unique learning experience that is both challenging and fun for its participants,” said Linda Brannon, associate vice president of academic affairs at the health science center. “We believe that by bringing students from different disciplines together to solve a health issue, they will be exposed to different perspectives, knowledge and skills and see the value of working together to solve a problem.”

The competition will take place in Room 207 of the Dental Branch, 6516 M.D. Anderson Blvd. Free Parking will be available in the Mental Sciences Institute directly across the street from the Dental Branch. Overflow parking is available in TMC Garage Six, behind Baylor College of Medicine, and will be validated for up to $6. A reception honoring the participating students will take place directly after the competition. For more information, check out the HCTC Web site at http://www.uth.tmc.edu/sic/HCTC/index.htm.

The Health Care Team Competition is designed to illustrate an interdisciplinary approach to health care. Each one of two teams, on which the participants have been randomly placed, will interact in solving a case study prepared and judged by UTHSC-H and University of Houston faculty. Interdisciplinary teams are made up of students selected by their schools who are in good academic standing and who are in the latter part of their degree program. The team members come from the six Health Science Center Schools plus students from the University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work, College of Pharmacy, and Health Law and Policy Institute. Master of Ceremony will be Dr. Paula O’Neill, special assistant to the dean of the Dental Branch.

Health Care Team Competition Teams

Blue Team

(Left to Right)
Front Row: Susan Bankston (UTHSC-H School of Nursing); Alana Smith (UH
Graduate School of Social Work); Jennifer Olivier (UTHSC-H
Dental Branch); Anna Dragsbaek (UH Law Center); David Westra
(UTHSC-H Medical School)

Back Row: Tyrone Rodriguez (UTHSC-H Dental Branch); Jenna LaRock (UH
College of Pharmacy); Tamra Meyer (UTHSC-H School of Public Health);
Brian Phillips (UTHSC-H Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences)

Inset - Lower Right: Jorge Herskovic (UTHSC-H School of Health Information Sciences)

Pint-a-Day: Help MD Anderson & Help Your School Win Some Party Money

This February, the Student InterCouncil is sponsoring a Pint-a-Day contest in conjunction with the MD Anderson Blood Bank. Our goal is to have at least one UTHSCH student donate blood and/or plasma for every day in February. The school with the best participation will win $100 towards a party of their choosing. Students donating blood will earn one point for their school; donating plasma will get you two points. Donate both at the same time - MD Anderson has a new machine that makes that possible with just one needlestick - and your school will receive three points!

February is the shortest month of the year - surely we can achieve our goal! Be a hero - sign up today.

Contact Jennifer at jbrannan@uth.tmc.edu to schedule your appointment today!

CHASE Visits Hightower High school

After an overwhelming response from last year, students and staff from UT-HSC-Houston schools returned to Hightower High School in the Fort Bend Independent School District this past January for a second edition of
"CHASE: Careers in Health and Science for Everyone." The innovative, interactive program, shepherded by the Office of Community and Educational Outreach and Student InterCouncil, enables high school students to experiment and learn hands-on what it means to be a health professional.

UT-Houston student presentations showcased the variety of career paths available through the health science center. Hightower students made finger impressions with the Dental Branch, learned how to dress an injured eyeball with the Medical School, learned about research at UT-Houston with the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences all while learning about the importance of each field.

"The students were ecstatic. They thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful presentations," said Wendy Maurier, director of the Medical Science Academy at Hightower High School. "Your UT-Houston students put a lot of effort into their presentations and it showed. These were fabulous."

Future presentations are planned at other area high schools. Interested staff and students may contact Manuel Reyes, Student InterCouncil representative and CHASE founder, Manuel.M.Reyes@uth.tmc.edu.

-Manuel Reyes, MS

SIC Project Funding Report: Medical Mission Trip to Ghana

I was one of the three students from the UT-Houston School of Public Health who, with a team of 32 mostly SNMA (Student National Medical Association) students, embarked on a medical mission trip to Ghana (West Africa) from June 16 through June 30, 2003. The two other students were Lara Bull and Pinaki Patel. The main theme of the mission was “HIV/AIDS: Moving Beyond Awareness” and so increased emphasis was placed on education and intervention beyond simple awareness of the existence of AIDS.

Our mission allowed us not only to address HIV/AIDS in a rural community in Ghana, but also to increase the awareness of HIV through building a community of HIV ambassadors, family counselors, and community health educators. We were able to spread the message of our work throughout Ghana through our appearances on Ghanaian national television and several radio talk shows. In all, we had a wonderful opportunity to address HIV/AIDS, connect with the community, and experience Ghana’s (and for that matter, Africa’s) rich culture.

A million thanks to the SIC for supporting our trip. Patel, Annor, and Bull

-Samuel D. Annor, SPH

Health ACTION AIDS Week

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Are you interested in HIV/AIDS issues? Are you interested in health and human rights issues, promoting discussion and activism on these issues, and interacting with fellow passionate colleagues? If so, email Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) at phr_uthsc@hotmail.com. Let us know you are interested and would like to join the listserv and/or be a part of upcoming events in the Texas Medical Center. Upcoming events include the HEALTH ACTION AIDS week (March 29th - April 2nd) -- a week of engaging our colleagues and the public in HIV/AIDS
awareness.

What is PHR? We educate health professionals and medical, public health, and nursing students and organize them to become active in supporting a movement for human rights and creating a culture of human rights in the medical and scientific professions." Please visit the website at http://www.phrusa.org.

-Apu Agrawal, SPH

Policies and Procedures: Student ID Badges/Stickers

Policy: The Office of Student Accounts will be responsible for providing students with the appropriate sticker(s) for student identification badges.

Procedures:

a. For Medical and DDS students, the Office of Student Accounts (OSA) will mail stickers to a student’s local address once confirmation of a payment for tuition and fees has been received at The University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston. The payment must cover the minimum amount due (partial payments do not qualify). Students who pay via UTLINK (web) will be identified on the next business day by exception report and mailed a sticker.

Students who pay tuition and fees with financial aid will be identified by the daily review of the exception report for student credit balances (COVR) and mailed a sticker. Students who pay in person will be given a sticker while the payment transaction is being processed. The Senior Support Assistant will be the primary person responsible for this procedure. This procedure will be performed on an annual basis as medical and DDS students register for an entire academic year at the beginning of each year in their respective program.

b. For academic students, the Office of Student Accounts (OSA) will mail stickers to a student’s local address once confirmation of a payment for tuition and fees has been received at The University of Texas Health Science Center – Houston. The payment must cover the minimum amount due (partial payments do not qualify). Students who pay via UTLINK (web) will be identified on the next business day by exception report and mailed a sticker.