Karen Disque (left), from IDEA Quest Academy, a charter school in Edinburg, works on suturing a cut on a practice arm with Elvia Gonzalez, M.D., a retired physician who teaches at San Benito High School.
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While many teachers were enjoying the last of their summer vacations, 29 science and health career educators from Laredo and the Lower Rio Grande Valley were at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio learning about new, hands-on classroom kits they can use during this school year to teach their students about the health professions.

The Office of Recruitment and Science Outreach (ORSO) created the kits and the accompanying curriculum for the “Med Ed Teacher Institute: Building Educational Bridges into the Health Professions,” held July 29-30. During the program, educators learned about the professional programs offered at the Health Science Center and engaged in hands-on activities they can later share with their students.

Classroom kits provide hands-on activities
Participants learned how to suture a wound, took each other’s vital signs and learned how to give injections using simulated practice arms. They crowded around ECG machines and listened to heart and breathing simulators to learn about the cardiovascular and circulatory systems of the body. They also explored dental casting procedures and performed many other hands-on activities.

Kits available for check-out from Med Ed offices
All of the equipment used during the program will be available to the teachers in five kits that they can check out for their classrooms from the local Med Ed offices in Laredo (at the Laredo Campus Extension) and the Lower Rio Grande Valley (located in McAllen). Additionally, San Antonio area teachers can request that ORSO staff present these lessons to their classes.

Art Hall from St. Augustine High School in Laredo learns how to suture a cut on a practice arm while Lupita Garza from La Joya High School looks on.

“Everyone was so enthusiastic, eager to learn and willing to create new partnerships — all for the benefit of South Texas students.” said Irene Chapa, Ph.D., director of the ORSO, which conducted the institute in collaboration with the Health Science Center’s Med Ed Program. “Seeing this program come to fruition was a dream come true. Having these kits allows science teachers to take clinical applications and correlate them to basic sciences already being taught in the classroom. We hope that these new teaching tools will motivate, educate and encourage students to enter the health professions,” she said.

Learning about the health professions
In addition to becoming familiar with the classroom teaching kits, educators learned more about the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, medical research and other health professions so that they can provide more in-depth lessons about these careers to their students. They also met Health Science Center students to learn firsthand what becoming a health professional is all about.

South Texas is a medically underserved area
“South Texas, especially the rural areas south of San Antonio, have been designated as medically underserved by the federal government. This means that there are not enough health professionals available to provide care,” explained David Jones, Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology and associate dean for admissions in the School of Medicine, which sponsors the Med Ed Program and funded the institute. “For this reason, The University of Texas System has asked our campus to find innovative ways to encourage students from South Texas to enter the health professions with the hope that they will return to their hometowns to provide care in their communities. The Med Ed Teacher Institute is our newest initiative to get this message across to teachers, students and families. We also want them to know that we will help support them as they go through our program to help them be successful.”

Laredo teacher thankful for kits
Rosa Villarreal, who teaches at the Dr. Dennis D. Cantu Health Science Magnet at Martin High School in Laredo, was impressed with the kits. “Our students are 100 percent high achievers, but our school has very limited resources for this kind of equipment that gives an actual hands-on experience in the real world of all the medical careers available,” she said. “I definitely plan to use these kits in my classroom. Not many universities have offered us so much that we can use to help our students. And from what I’ve learned from the student panels here, the Health Science Center really does help students not only with scholarship money but with support while they are here.”

Art Smith, who teaches freshman biology at St. Augustine High School, said he came to the teacher institute because he was encouraged to do so by his students. “I just jumped on the opportunity,” he said. “My students told me all about what they’ve done and learned through Med Ed. My favorite part of the institute was the student panel. There were students on the panel with all kinds of undergraduate degrees. I learned that you don’t have to start out wanting to go to medical school to get in. There are several ways to do it.”

Edinburg teacher appreciates networking opportunity
Karen Disque, a longtime public school science teacher who now teaches at IDEA Quest Academy, a public charter school in Edinburg, found the bonding between teachers at the workshop to be a valuable asset for the future. “One of the most important things I got was the networking opportunity,” she said. “We’re building a cadre of teachers in the Valley who are networking with each other and feel very supported by the Health Science Center. I feel personally that this workshop was such a gift we all have been given. I hope that I can fulfill my responsibility to pass this information forward to lots of teachers and students in the Valley.

More about the programs
The ORSO offers many other outreach programs, all designed to facilitate the pathway into the health and research professions. Among these additional programs are Health Science Center campus visits; Science Expo, set for Nov. 1; presentations at Health Science Center regional campuses; volunteer opportunities and a mentorship program for college students. To learn about the ORSO offerings, visit www.uthscsa.edu.outreach.

The Health Science Center Med Ed Program provides encouragement and support for middle school, high school and undergraduate college students who are interested in the health professions. Participants are offered year-round academic enrichment, community service opportunities, volunteer programs at area health care facilities and field trips to the Health Science Center campuses to learn more about how to prepare for an education and career in the health professions. For more information about the Med Ed Program, visit www.uthscsa.edu/meded.