The Shooting Star Volume 1, Issue 4

CPR Day By: Zach Melchiode

On Tuesday, July 12th, the STAR class

made their way to Ochsner’s Elmwood

Campus. There, we all highly anticipated

becoming CPR certified. The four-hour course

was composed of CPR for adults, children and

infants. All around the room the STAR class,

including Ms. Melissa and Ms. Sobia, were

enjoying their training but also taking it very

seriously. We learned how to do body

compressions along with careful breathing

techniques using our own mouths as well as a

specialized CPR breathing mask. The class was

a lot of fun and I think everyone really enjoyed

J U L Y 2 0 1 1

Linda Arellano practicing CPR on a mannequin

Inside this issue:

- CPR Day

- Flight Care - Skills Training - GME Luncheon - PTC Taster Lab - Pathology/Morgue - STAR Crossword

it. By twelve o’clock the entire class

was CPR certified, so now we can

pursue our careers as lifeguards and

take control over emergency situations.

The CPR course is just one of the

many memories I will take from

STAR. As STAR comes to a close in

this last week I think my fellow

classmates and I are sad that the

program seems to be ending so

abruptly.

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THE SHOOTING STAR SUMMER 2011

Flight Care By: Claire Franklin

On Monday, July 11th, the STAR students had the privilege of seeing one of Ochsner’s helicopters take off to pick up a patient near Baton Rouge. Before take off, the students took a tour of the emergency department. They also learned from one of the flight care nurses that Ochsner’s flight care team has traveled to far-away places such as Germany and South Africa to pick up sick patients. All of the STAR students agreed that flight care was one of the most interesting rotations at Ochsner. One STAR scholar, Ekuase Ogunbor, exclaimed that, “Being able to see the helicopter take off was so cool! Before going to visit flight care, I never knew that they were able to go to

different countries to give aid. Their job is truly spectacular.”

The STAR class of 2011 poses in front of an Ochsner helicopter on Monday, July 11th. Chelsie Wilbon, pictured in the first row, fourth from the right, stated

that, “flight care was amazing. I never knew they had the capability of flying across the world. I enjoyed watching the helicopter take off. I was very pleased

with this rotation.”

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THE SHOOTING STAR SUMMER 2011

Skills Training By: Abigayle Rhode-Pausina

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the STAR Students attended a Skills Training Lab directed by Dr. Seoane and assisted by UQ Medical Students Jerry Lee, Darryl Schuitevoerder and Deanna Chin. While one group of students was with Dr. Seoane and the UQ students, the other group took their Part 6 Medical Terminology Test, learned Part 7, and spent time working on their STAR Projects. The lucky group of the day went to the back building where the interviews were held and learned handy doctor skills like suturing and taking blood. The students were taught how to tie a tourniquet (and practiced on each other), and learned the widely used butterfly needle to take blood from a fake arm. Dr. Seoane also sat down with the STAR students and talked with them about their future plans. His tips and advice was invaluable to the students. UQ Students Deanna, Jerry and Darryl had a station comprised of tissue-like blocks each with two large incisions made, a crescent needle and string, needle holders, tissue forceps, and scissors. They instructed the students on the correct way to suture (sew up) the wounds. It was an incredible experience. Many STAR Students claim it to be their favorite thing done so far in the STAR program.

GME Luncheon By: Saya Menzies

Last Wednesday, the STAR

students had the opportunity to meet

with doctors in the process of

completing their residency at a learning

lunch. We went from table to table,

hearing the stories of how the residents

got to their current state and getting

advice from them that will be helpful in

the future. It was reassuring for us to

hear from their personal accounts of all

that it takes to become a healthcare

professional. We thanked them for their

time and look forward to putting their

useful advice into action!

Ekuase Ogunbor (left) and Dua Farhoud sitting inside the helicoptor

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THE SHOOTING STAR SUMMER 2011

PTC Taster Lab By: Abigayle Rhode-Pausina

On Monday, July 11th, the STAR students completed the three-day PTC

Taster Lab with the guidance of Dr. Paula Gregory from LSU Medical School. The

goal of the experiment was to genetically determine a student’s genotype and

phenotype with regards to being able to taste a certain safe chemical. Before the

experiment began, each student placed a seemingly innocent strip of paper on his or

her tongue. If a person possesses the gene, the little strip of paper would taste

extremely bitter. If one does not have the gene, all one will taste is bland paper.

Also, Dr. Gregory gave the students strips of the chemical paper to take home to

their families. Then, the next afternoon, each student went up to the board and drew

their family pedigree including who in his or her family was a “taster” and who was

not.

In the lab, the students took samples of their inner cheek, put it through a

process to isolate the taster gene, ran the final product through a gel, and finally used

a complex machine to take a picture of it. If there were two bars on the picture, that

meant that that particular student had a heterozygous genotype, meaning he or she

had one dominant “taster” trait and on negative. In reality, that person should have

been able to taste the bitter chemical. However, there were some contradictory

evidence. If only one bar was seen, the student has a homozygous genotype, which

could either be dominant dominant (“taster”) or recessive recessive (not taster). The

lab was a success, for the most part; and all of the STAR Students thoroughly

enjoyed working with Dr. Gregory. So much so, that a few of them are considering

taking part in her Summer Lab Internship offered at LSU Med School next Summer.

Pictured left to right: STAR students Ekuase Ogunbor, Saya

Menzies, Zach Melchiode, Abigayle Rhode-Pausina, and

Knowledge Management Director Ethel Madden. The STAR

students had a coffee chat Wednesday, July 13th with Ethel Madden and Jawed Alam.

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THE SHOOTING STAR SUMMER 2011

Pathology/Morgue By: Claire Franklin

Claire Franklin & a heart

On Friday, July 15th, the STAR students had the opportunity to spend time with pathologist Dr. Nancy K. Davis. They toured the pathology lab and learned about what a pathologist does and about the relationships they have with clinicians. As shown in the picture to the left, Claire Franklin smiled as she held a heart. Not pictured is a liver and a uterus that other STAR students held. The students also had the privilege of visiting the morgue. Unfortunately they couldn’t go into one side of the morgue because an autopsy was taking place. This rotation was by far one

of the most interesting ones yet.

Drawing Space