Daily Lobo new mexico
Know your campus see page 9
August 17-23, 2009
welcome back The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Native Americans enroll in record numbers at med school by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
The UNM School of Medicine enrolled nine Native Americans this year, though it’s never had more than four per year in the past. Gayle Dine-Chacon, vice president of the UNM Center for Native American Health, said the increase is unprecedented. “We are possibly the only school in the nation to have this many Native American students accepted into medical school,” she said. Other universities near Native American reservations, like those in Oklahoma, Arizona and Kansas have not seen an increase in Native American enrollment, according to spokespersons from each university. The University of Kansas School of Medicine enrollment decreased to just one Native American student for the fall semester. David Bear, assistant dean of admissions for the UNM School of Medicine, said Native Americans are poorly represented in the medical field. One reason for UNM’s increased enrollment is new recruiting methods from the Office of Admissions and the Office of
Diversity, he said. “(Native American) students who did apply often had a number of competing offers, so when we would admit them, they would say ‘thank you but no thank you,’ and go other places,” Bear said. “We have student recruiters now who are from particular ethnic groups who can go into the high schools and colleges and interface with students at their own level.” Two out of the nine Native American medical students received full tuition scholarships to the UNM School of Medicine. Only five or six full tuition scholarships are awarded per medical school class. Cheo Torres, vice president of Student Affairs, has authored several works about Native American medicine, including Curandero: A Life in Mexican Folk Healing. Torres said bringing Native American traditions into a Western medicine context can benefit health care as a whole. “Modern medicine and traditional medicine — they can certainly go hand in hand, and this combination is already happening in our Health Science Center,” he said. “Treatment should depend on what
the patient needs.” He said Native American students at the School Of Medicine will help meet the needs of the surrounding population. According to the U.S. News and World Report, UNM Hospital is ranked second in the nation for rural medicine. Dine-Chacon said the Center for Native American Health created a Native American student center six months ago, and it draws Native American students to UNM. “It’s a place for them to socialize, to network, and to be amongst others that have a similar background,” she said. Dine-Chacon said the student center also has a computer, printer, books and study areas for Native American students. She said these are important resources since many students have little money to spare while in medical school. “We provide small funds that may help students if they need things that were un-anticipated, like a stethoscope or materials to present a research project,” she said. Dine-Chacon said that all of these programs for Native American students should help them throughout their medical careers.
UNMH a pioneer in robotic surgery by Abigail Ramirez Daily Lobo
A UNM surgeon was the first to reconstruct a pediatric patient’s dysfunctional kidney without even touching him. Jason Wilson, associate professor of surgery and section chief of pediatric urology, used a surgical robot for the 3-year-old boy’s procedure at UNM’s Children’s Hospital this summer. Wilson said many doctors used to think they couldn’t do surgery properly without having their hands inside the patient. “For years, with laparoscopic surgery, what people talked about is that they didn’t feel they could do the same operation as they could if they made a big incision in a patient and they used their hands,” he said. “With the robotic surgery, you can really do just as good an operation as you can with your actual hands inside of a patient.” Satyan Shah, director of robotic surgery, said the robot’s four arms are able to mimic the surgeon’s
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue1
Courtesy of UNM Health Sciences Center A surgeon demonstrates laparoscopic surgery in this photo illustration. The first ever robotic pediatric surgery was performed at UNM Hospital this summer. wrist but prevent human errors. “Traditional surgery — you make an incision, you use instruments, you kind of open a patient up and you do the operation — this is a whole new way of operating,” he said. Shah said the hospital had only done robotic procedures on adults since September, when they bought the $2 million surgical robot. He said the robot has performed about 150 surgeries. Robotic arms and a high-definition camera are inserted through dime-sized incisions on the patient’s abdominal area, Shah said. The robotic camera gives surgeons a three-dimensional view inside of the body. “The vision that you get with the robot is a magnitude greater than what you could possibly get
with any other forms of surgery,” he said. In laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon sits in a console where his thumb and index finger are inserted into Velcro straps. The finger movements and control use are then mimicked by the robot. “Whatever you do in that console, it gets translated into movements of the robotic arms, so our hands never actually go inside the body,” who said. Shah said the surgical instruments at the end of the arms are smaller than a human finger. During the surgery, a second surgeon switches out the different instruments and an anesthesiologist and nurse monitor the patient.
see Surgery page 5
UNM Hospital workers protest outside the hospital on Aug. 10. They picketed for increased wages and benefits. Junfu Han / Daily Lobo
Health care employees picket for improved pay by Leah Valencia Daily Lobo
UNM Hospital health care workers have reached an agreement with hospital administrators granting employees a 2.7 percent annual wage increase. Nearly 45 health care employees picketed outside the hospital on Aug. 10 for improved wages and benefits. The employees partnered with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees for the demonstration. Negotiations still continue. UNM Hospital License and Technical president Gilberta Miera said past negotiations with hospital administrators have not gone well. “The last two years we have gone above and beyond, and they have expected us to come forward, but now they won’t come forward,” she said. A representative from the UNM Hospital negotiations team declined to comment. With health care premiums rising, Miera said workers will be losing money if they don’t get a raise, despite a 3.5 percent wage increase last year. Critical Care Nurse Dahlia Lopez said the relationship between administrators and employees has been strained because staff members are not appreciated. “UNM is the only trauma hospital in the state and we have the lowest wages. The people who work here — we work here because we care,” she said. “We do what it takes
to take care of the patients who are here.” Lopez said although she sympathizes with the hospital’s need to save money during hard economic times, she wants management to consider employee needs. “I understand management wanting to hold onto money for a rainy day, but we have employees here that cannot afford health insurance because they do not make enough money to pay for insurance,” she said. Miera said the picket was not designed to get a response from hospital administrators but to inform the community about problems UNM Hospital employees are facing. “We are not doing this to captivate them,” she said. “We are doing this because it is our right and we are tired of being walked all over. We don’t want a negative relationship, but we are going to continue to agitate the employees union because we want to continue to show them our position.” Chris Chavez, executive director of the NM Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, said UNM Hospital needs to understand that its employees are the backbone of the health care industry. “Corporate employees wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for those that work for them,” he said. “The worker is more important than the buck.” An agreement was drafted on Aug. 11 before health care workers voted and approved it Aug. 13 and
see Picket page 6
Be sure to pick up the Daily Lobo next week for our series of interviews with the three declared mayoral candidates, including Mayor Martin Chavez.
Eyedea’s ideas
Filling the gaps
See page 7
See page 14