Colleen Hopkins, Telehealth Coordinator for North Country Health Care (NCHC) shared an interactive lesson on NCHC’s Telehealth program with the iCREATE class on March 15, 2018. NCHC reaches across all of Northern Arizona, stretching 500 miles from Nevada to New Mexico, and has 23 Access Points for care across this vast region. The mission of NCHC is to provide accessible, affordable, comprehensive, quality primary healthcare in an atmosphere of respect, dignity, and cultural sensitivity. The health and well-being of patients and community alike are promoted through direct services, training/education, outreach, and advocacy. The NCHC Telehealth program uses video conferencing technology to link providers and their patients, as well as educators and health care consumers, to a comprehensive continuum of care. Using this technology, they can reduce the isolation of providers and their patients within rural communities. They can also save a lot of time. For example, a patient can get immediate information and help for behavioral health, diabetes, nutrition advice and more, without a practitioner needing to make a 6-hour drive. The students watched a video about Project ECHO (Extensions for Community Healthcare Outcomes) by Dr. Sanjeev Arora from the University of New Mexico. He shared this collaborative model of medical education and care management that empowers clinicians everywhere to provide better care to more people, right where they live. The students then practiced using the system to watch their own heart rate on the monitor (photo above) that a remote doctor or nurse would be able to observe and hear real-time. They also used another monitor to see their ear drum (photo below). Colleen ended the field trip with a tour of the NCHC facilities. Students got to see many areas in the clinic and see the dedication of the entire community working at North Country Health Care. Thank you, Colleen!
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Eleven high school students in the CAVIAT iCREATE bioscience class publicly presented their unique solutions to the authentic problem of tracking and reporting influenza-like illnesses in Coconino County. The presentations were held on March 7th at NAU's Center for Science Teaching and Learning. The students are in the second semester of this college-level course that earns credits from both Coconino Community College plus from Coconino High School or Flagstaff High School. The class meets after school for 2.5 hours each day from Monday to Thursday to learn the CTE (career and technical education) bioscience standards through an epidemiologic lens and with rich community involvement. Community partners include Coconino County Public Health Services District, North Country HealthCare, Northern Arizona Area Health Education Center, Northern Arizona Healthcare and TGen North. The students also gained assistance from Corryn Smith in using GIS technology for their reports. Instructors Dr. Aaron Tabor and Robert (Bobby) Woodruff co-teach the class at NAU. Both have extensive experience in research and education. They also include additional community partners for in-class presentations and field trips. Students have toured the Science and Health Building at NAU, the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) laboratories, the Clinical and Pathology Laboratory at Flagstaff Medical Center, and more! The students study disease-causing agents as then use the tools necessary to determine what microbes cause the illnesses. The class includes biosafety skills, microbiology techniques, DNA extraction, separation and analysis. Students take an end-of-year test to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Congratulations to all the students! And thank you to the community members that attended their presentations! NAU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dan Kain (Left), FUSD Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Mary K Walton (Center), and FUSD Superintendent Mike Penca (Right), all came to hear the student presentations and ask them questions about their unique solutions to this authentic community problem.
The 12 CAVIAT students in the iCREATE high school bioscience class at NAU are learning some basic Geographic Information Systems (GIS) skills to help track patient health for their epidemiology projects. Corryn Smith patiently teaches the students the basics of GIS. Corryn has presented to the class twice this fall, and will certainly be helping them again as they prepare their group projects.
Corryn is an Instructor for the Geography, Planning, and Recreation department at NAU. She received her MS in Applied Geospatial Sciences with a Planning and Recreation Emphasis in May 2017. Her Master's thesis research looked at using geospatial technologies to locate travel networks (Forest Service roads and trails) in Flagstaff. Her interests include: geospatial technologies and recreation, geospatial technologies and sustainable land management, GIS in education, and Python Programming for Women and Minorities. Thank you Corryn for your friendly and professional help! Dr. Darlene Lee, an anatomical and clinical pathologist with Northern Arizona Healthcare, led a tour of Clinical and Pathology Laboratory at Flagstaff Medical Center to the high school iCREATE students. The iCREATE class is unique in the pronounced role of community members to the success of the class. Dr. Lee gave a tour last year, highlighted here, and it was one of the most memorable tours for the class. She made this one even more hands-on with additional partners from FMC. Garn Bailey, Pathology Assistant, once again thoroughly engaged the students with a variety of human organs that he prepares for the pathologist to more critically analyze as needed. He dissected a gall bladder to show the gall stones, as well as a kidney that showed a cancerous area. He also went through the entire process of preparing thin sections from larger tissues and organs for analysis. The surgeons in the hospital rely on the Clinical and Pathology Laboratory to rapidly prepare and assess samples while some patients are in surgery; to make sure they have removed all cancerous cells, or to determine the specific pathogen. When that occurs, tissues are quickly put on ice and are then sliced thinly in a cryostat, which keeps the tissues frozen. They are then rapidly stained and assessed by the pathologist. This entire process can occur in 20 minutes so the surgeon is able to receive the information during surgery to improve the patient's outcome. The students then looked at blood samples with Dr. Lee. They were able to identify components of blood including white blood cells (leukocytes), red blood cells (erythrocytes), and platelets (thrombocytes). Platelets are tiny blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding. She also showed them the image of the cancerous kidney tissue from the kidney Garn had shown them earlier. Students observed the hospital's blood supply with Jordan Ippolito, a Medical Lab Scientist at FMC. She told the students that the shelf life of platelets is only 5 days, while frozen plasma is good for a year. Red blood cells are only functionally sound for 40 days because their ability to carry oxygen (their primary role) is impaired after that. The importance of donating blood cannot be overstated! Two students volunteered to have their blood drawn so they could determine what blood type they are. Phlebotomist Troy Schafer cracked jokes with the students to put them at ease. Jordan then had the remaining students look at blood sample directly through the microscope so they could put their earlier practice to use. The final activity was to discuss what having blood types A,B, AB, or O really means, and then to complete the analysis of the blood types using the antigens that can cause blood to clot, depending on what the blood type is. Thank you again for the fascinating and educational tour of the Clinical and Pathology Laboratory at FMC! Special thanks to Dr. Darlene Lee, Garn Bailey, Jordan Ippolito and Troy Schafer! You are living up to your mission and goal; you definitely wowed us!
Guest Blog Post by Larry Hendricks, PR and Publications Coordinator, Coconino Community College CCC CAVIAT Students Focus on Health Professions
They’re taking college classes, but they’re still in high school. Not only that, but they’ve proved their mettle in problem solving in the health occupations, and they’re on their way to a statewide competition in April. Twelve students in Coconino Community College’s Dual Enrollment/CAVIAT BIO 298 class took exams on Creative Problem Solving through Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA). This class is taught by CCC Science Faculty and Bridges to Baccalaureate Principal Investigator Dr. Aaron Tabor, NAU Graduate Students and CCC Instructors Christina Baze and Bobby Woodruff. “Four of the students qualified to go to the state level,” Tabor said, adding that all of the students are equally intelligent and deserving of accolades. The team placed ninth overall. The four students, all 10th graders, are Cate Cole and Ethan Perelstein from Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy; and Kaleb Herrelko and Jacqueline Slack from Coconino High School. According to information from HOSA, its mission is to “promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the deliver of quality health care to all people.” The focus is on health science education and biomedical science programs to promote interest in pursuing careers in the health professions. To prepare for the exams, Slack said that the team began by reading books on creative problem solving and by researching various health-related problems in the community. Cole added that the team tested one another with problems as well as timing the testing for solutions. During testing, the team had 30 minutes to prepare and had 8 minutes to present their case in front of a panel to judge. They made the grade, and now they’re heading to Tucson for the statewide competition. “I personally am excited to meet other students like us, who are science minded,” Perelstein said. Herrelko added, “That could be fun.” Slack said, “I’m very excited to compete.” Cole said, “I’m really excited to see what we can come up with – real-world problems that affect millions across the globe.” The team members are part of the iCREATE High School Bioscience program. The class offers six credit hours from CCC to apply to a college degree. The students meet five days a week at the Center for Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University for lectures and labs. The program is offered through the Coconino Association for Vocations, Industry and Technology. “I love coming here and getting a taste of what college and medical school will offer,” Cole said. Perelstein said, “For me, this class is challenging, it’s engaging, and that’s what I really love.” Herrelko said, “I like the challenge and it requires more persistence.” Slack said, “I’m excited that every day after school, I get to be around science-oriented, like-minded people.” For Tabor, he said he thoroughly enjoys being the instructor for the class. “Frankly, it’s the students,” he said. “I never in a thousand years anticipated teaching K-12 students at all, but this group of students is one of the best I’ve ever encountered.” Tabor added that his job is to educate the students on the translational sciences and the epidemiology field, but he also is to assist them with their professional growth – creating curriculum vitaes, attending conferences, performing public speaking, seeking publication, and more. As for the state competition in April, Tabor said the students can go to the national level in the event if they are rank high enough for it. So, the journey may not be over for one or several of them after the state competition. And as for the future, all four team members have plans. Cole’s goal is to become a physician, an obstetrician. Perelstein is interested in mechanical engineering, particularly “biomimicry,” or solving problems through evolutionary processes. Herrelko is still exploring, but he knows he wants to be an engineer of some sort. Slack is dedicated to becoming a neurosurgeon. “We challenge one another and work to put our best foot forward as a team,” Perelstein said. The iCREATE HS Bioscience program is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Community partners include CCC, CAVIAT, NAU, TGen North, North Country HealthCare, Coconino County Public Health Services District, and Flagstaff STEM City. Dr. Darlene Lee, an anatomical and clinical pathologist at Flagstaff Medical Center, led thirteen high school students in the iCREATE bioscience class on a fascinating tour of the Clinical and Pathology Laboratory at FMC on Monday, November 14th. Pathology is the study of disease, and a pathologist is a medical doctor (MD) who specializes in studying disease, including the source, extent, and cause of the disease in a patient. The students got to see many aspects of what this career entails. The students began the tour by seeing some of the high-tech diagnostic tools available to test patient samples. These included urinalysis, PCR, flow cytometry and light microscopy. Jane Talisman, one of the laboratory lead technicians, even did a rapid test from Cate’s mucosal sample to determine if she had MRSA. Read to the end of the post to find out the result! The students then watched Garn Bailey, the Pathologists’ Assistant, as he prepared to dissect an excised gall bladder. The students were able to touch the gall bladder to see what it felt like. The dissected gall bladder had several gallstones in it that were too large to exit the gall bladder on their own. A frozen tissue sample from a patient came in, and the tour immediately switched over to observing the pathology team process this sample for the surgeon and patient waiting for it in the operating room. The pathology team can receive and process a sample, and return a diagnosis to a surgeon, within 20 minutes. This intraoperative pathology consultation helps guide the surgeon through the remainder of the procedure, so the patient has a better outcome. Garn put the sample on the cryostat, a machine that keeps the sample frozen while shaving off very thin slices for placing on microscope slides. Audrey McMillon, a histotechnologist, then stained the samples with a specific stain to highlight what the surgeon needed to view. Histology is the study of the microscopic structure of tissues. There are four pathologists at FMC and one at Verde Medical Center. In order to become a pathologist, you need a four-year college degree, then a four-year medical school degree, and then you need to complete your pathology residency for another four years! If you want to do a subspecialty fellowship, that takes another 1-2 years. After the students completed the tour, Dr. Lee shared a presentation with three different case studies for the students to discuss. Just as Garn had previously, Dr. Lee reaffirmed that in order to recognize an abnormal pathology you need to know what the normal anatomy and histology looks like. During the cases, Dr. Lee asked the students what they thought, and what tests they would run to try and solve the case. At the end of the presentation, Cate got the results from her diagnostic test. We were all thrilled she did not have Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA! Note the sign above the door in the photo above. This important message reflects the commitment of the pathology team: Patients are our Purpose.
STEM City and the iCREATE collaborative thank Dr. Lee and the entire team in the Clinical and Pathology Lab for being such willing presenters, and for providing important and engaging information to the students. Thank you! The Girls on the Run season finale on November 11th at Coconino High School included a Hall of Heroes with many STEM professionals represented! Thank you so much to the following Wonder Women for participating in the 2016 Hall of Heroes! Medical professionals, Dr. Kate Preston, Dr. Margaret Donnelly and Clinical Pharmacist Randee Fullenwider, all shared their experiences in the medical field with the girls. Mechanical Engineer Beth Cooperrider, Lawyer Jennifer Mott, and Wildland Forest Fighter Maggie Knight shared their journeys and careers with the girls. Lowell Observatory Astronomers Dr. Lisa Prato and Dr. Deidre Hunter shared starry wonders, and Lisa Lamberson, owner of Mountain Sports, described the joys and challenges of running a successful store in downtown Flagstaff.
Thank you all for your contributions to empowering our young women through the Girls on the Run Hall of Heroes! Guest Blog by Marney Babbitt, NAHEC Youth Program Coordinator, Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona Council Director, North Country HealthCare In early June, 40 high school students from rural and underserved areas in Arizona attended the Future Health Leaders Summer Camp (FHL), including a Williams High School student from the iCREATE bioscience class. The camp was sponsored by the Northern Arizona, Eastern Arizona, Southern Arizona and Greater Valley Area Health Education Centers. This week long camp was hosted at the University of Arizona. FHL has a number of objectives:
Highlights this year included:
Our 2017 camp for current high school students will be held at Northern Arizona University in June of 2017. Applications will be available in early 2017. Please contact Marney Babbitt (mbabbitt@nchcaz.org) for more information. Guest Blog by Marney Babbitt, NAHEC Youth Program Coordinator, Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona Council Director, North Country HealthCare Are you passionate about STEM, healthy living, empowering girls to be their best, brightest selves, and giving back to your community? If so, consider coaching for Girls on the Run. This may be the perfect fit for you! Girls on the Run (GOTR) is a physical activity-based, positive youth development program that inspires 3rd through 8th grade girls to recognize their limitless potential and boldly pursue their dreams. The 10-week Girls on the Run program, which is led by volunteer coaches (that's you!), focuses on helping girls develop key life skills, such as cultivating confidence, responding to oneself and others with care and creating positive connections. The teams also learn the value of giving back to their community through a service project. Girls on the Run is non-competitive and works to help each girl achieve her goal. Each season culminates with a 5k event that celebrates girls' growth during the season. How does GOTR relate to STEM? 66% of 4th grade girls say they love science and math but only 24% of the STEM workforce is female. Children's general perceptions of gender inequality don't start to set in until about age 7. Children who are engaged in physical activities in elementary school have higher self-esteem. As a GOTR Coach you will work closely with your team of girls and fellow Coaches. You will all have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of girls in your community, not to mention the tutus, glitter, beads and, oh yeah, cheers....lots of cheers! As a GOTR Coach you will be trained on the GOTR curriculum where you will learn how to work with the girls on important topics such as making friends, healthy relationships, inner beauty, and healthy nutrition, all while creatively integrating running. For example, the girls may have to answer questions about the day's topic each time they complete a lap, while you and your coaching team are encouraging and cheering the girls on. Girls on the Run is celebrating their 20th Anniversary and you can be a part of girl empowerment. Their message is: We believe that every girl can embrace who she is,
can define who she wants to be, can rise to any challenge, can change the world. Some quotes from GOTR girls that will help them as they move forward in life: "I learned to be strong and never give up." –Ciondra, Grade 6 Girls on the Run could make any girl fearless, because when you're surrounded by people you trust, respect and care for, nothing can hold you back from being the most beautiful person you have grown to be." – Josie, Grade 6 Note: GOTR Coaches do not have to be runners! You just have to be enthusiastic and have a desire to work with girls of this age group. Women and Men over 18 are welcome to apply. We can't wait to have you as part of the GOTR team! Still not convinced? Watch this short GOTR video here! Then apply to be a GOTR Coach by completing the NEW Coach application here: http://www.gotrna.org/get-involved/hey-coach To learn more about Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona visit www.gotrna.org or contact Marney Babbitt (mbabbitt@nchcaz.org) at 928-522-9452. Guest Blog by Marney Babbitt, NAHEC Youth Program Coordinator and Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona Council Director at North Country HealthCare On Tuesday May 3rd, students from the AT Still University Community Campus at North Country HealthCare (NCHC) visited Curt Craig’s 6th grade science classes at Mount Elden Middle School (MEMS). The medical students shared their experiences in education and medical school through hands-on activities where MEMS students learned about heart and lung sounds, reflexes, and protecting ear drums. This visit was an activity of the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce Skills for Workplace Success (S4WS) program. North Country HealthCare and Curt Craig’s 6th grade science classes at MEMS are paired in this program and met four times throughout the 2015-2016 school year. The MEMS students learn about careers in the health care field. Additional presentations introduced MEMS students to Public Health, Orthopedic Surgery, and Telemedicine. Thank you North Country HealthCare and the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce!
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