Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

Gabriela Molina of Zapata High School learns how to place a breathing tube in a simulation manikin at the LLANO Field Experience at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.
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SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 10, 2009) — Twenty-five teenagers from Brackettville, Carrizo Springs, Crystal City, La Pryor and Zapata visited the UT Health Science Center San Antonio in late July to focus on health professions career opportunities and to gain a greater awareness of obesity as a health concern in their communities. A teacher from each town accompanied the group.

Students to conduct service projects in their communities
Armed with the information about obesity and its resulting health effects, the young people created service-learning projects to deliver in their communities during the coming year. They also worked on leadership capabilities and skills needed to attend college.

A grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board supports the Learn, Lead and Advance to New Opportunity (LLANO) Field Experience. “LLANO is an opportunity for these students to learn about our health professions, the value of an education after high school and community service,” said LLANO faculty member J. Dennis Blessing, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at the Health Science Center. “We want them to experience a small piece of college life and learn about a few of the options they have in life.”

Hands-on health care activities
The students tried new things throughout the week. For example, they placed breathing tubes and listened to breathing sounds during the respiratory care session, and they learned how to tie sutures and make limb casts in the physician assistant studies session.

Health-related field trips
Students and teachers also went on field trips to the Haven for Hope facility for the homeless in downtown San Antonio and to Sea World Texas’ health facility.

Many health care fields available
During LLANO, the teenagers learned about dietetics and nutrition, respiratory care, deaf education and hearing science, clinical laboratory sciences, dental hygiene, dental laboratory science, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, emergency health sciences and physical therapy. Degrees in all of these fields are available through the Health Science Center’s School of Health Professions.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $36 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 26,400 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.