theglacier
April 15, 2011 — News
Student Trustee Corner | Gennaro paolella Time has really flown. It was not too long ago that I remember writing my first trustee corner. For my final trustee corner I would like to thank several parties, share my future plans, and wish all of you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. A large thank you is in order for Demetrius Robinson, coordinator of Student Life. Demetrius relentlessly supports our student body in every way imaginable, and he has orchestrated a program dedicated toward developing future leaders. I would like to extend another thank you to each of our four college Vice Presidents. I have learned so much by observing and interacting with these highly skilled administrators. They were always willing to hear my suggestions and provide outlets for me to pursue them. My last thank you is for Dr. Crawley and the College Board who have provided the Student Trustee opportunity. Experiences of observing an organization of this magnitude function, participating in College Board meetings, and feeling
the satisfaction of positively impacting our college community would not be possible without their support. The next step in my academic career is transferring to UIC. I have already been accepted, and I am pursuing a seat in the honors college. I am going to double major in biochemistry and secondary chemistry education. My long term goal is to become a pharmacist for Walgreens and teach high school chemistry. Through my student interviews and classroom experiences, I know many of you are also transferring to four year schools, pursuing placement into professional programs, or moving into the work force. This is what makes Moraine such a special place. Here, we have over 20,000 people actively working toward goals that best suit them. It is an environment that provokes hard work, perseverance, and success. These characteristics of our student body are what make the student trustee position so revered by the College Board. Best of luck to all of you!
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Meyerson: progress in the fight against lung cancer Advancement made possible by technology By Connor Reynolds News Editor Shari L. Meyerson, Associate Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University, was the latest speaker in the MVCC/Northwestern Memorial Hospital Medical Education Series on April 13. The focus of the presentation was the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of lung cancer. A large sized crowd of students from health science, biology, nursing and medical terminology classes were present in the Dorothy Menker
allowed the surgeons to see what they were doing. The video showed the splitting, stapling, and cutting of a blood vessel to a lobe of the lung that was being removed. According to Meyerson this new, minimally invasive technique has significant advantages over thoracotomy, the older technique. In thoracoscopy the need for after-surgery care in the form of a nursing home or at-home nursing decreased from 63% of patients to 20% of patients. The percentage of patients reporting extreme pain after three weeks dropped from 65% to 6%.
Shari Meyerson lecture as part of the MVCC MVCC/Northwestern Memorial Hospital Medical Education Series. [Zandro Zafra] Theater to learn the ins and outs of lung cancer. Technological advances were the major focus of the presentation, as they have been able to improve diagnosis and treatment in ways that were never possible before. Citing a study done on the effectiveness of chest CT scans in early diagnosis of lung cancer Meyerson said, “This was huge. That’s the first time we’ve show any improvement.” This improvement was demonstrated by a 20% drop in lung cancer deaths in at risk patients who had regular chest CT scans. The treatment portion of the presentation proved to be the most graphic. To demonstrate thoracoscopy, the newest surgical option for lung cancer, Meyerson played a clip of one of the operations she had done. The clip came from the viewpoint of a tiny camera that
After two and a half years over 26% of thoracotomy patients are still on painkillers as a result of the procedure. In the same study, the percent of patients using painkillers after only one year was at zero for those who had the thoracoscopy. This presentation followed the last presentation, which was a similar look at the improvements of COPD treatment. Both have carried a very anti-smoking theme as Meyerson dedicated the last third of her presentation to stopping people from smoking. The history of tobacco usage in the US was detailed and several photos seemingly straight out of DARE were shown, including the ubiquitous black lung. Connor Reynolds can be contacted at reynoldsc@mvccglacier.com.