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Tuesday, September 10, 2019
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University President Michael V. Drake discusses Epstein-Wexner relationship in Lantern interview.
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New food truck with plant-based options opening up next to Thyme and Change.
COLUMBUS’ OWN
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Duo Midwest experiments with multiple musical genres.
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THE LANTERN thelantern.com
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Ohio State dominates in multiple ways in Cincinnati game.
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The student voice of the Ohio State University
Year 139, Issue No. 33
Task force’s ‘Buckeye PAL’ goes live Drake announces launch of peer-to-peer mental health warm line SAM RAUDINS Campus Editor raudins.3@osu.edu
AMAL SAEED | PHOTO EDITOR
President Michael V. Drake discussed Ohio State’s suicide prevention and mental health efforts on Sept. 9 with The Lantern.
University President Michael V. Drake announced the launch of the Buckeye Peer Access Line, a nonemergency, peer-to-peer talk line that offers support and direction to campus mental health resources, recommended by the Suicide and Mental Health Task Force in September 2018. In an interview with The Lantern, Drake discussed the state of mental health services on campus, including the creation of Buckeye PAL — which launched Monday at 8 p.m. — and the university’s response to internal Counseling and Consultation Services emails obtained by The Lantern that detailed a preferential treatment policy. The Suicide and Mental Health Task Force, which was commissioned by Drake after a review of the university’s suicide prevention efforts and mental health support, released a list of rec-
ommendations to improve Ohio State’s practices last September. Drake said that following recommendations, the task force began the implementation of the suggested changes, including the warm line and the increased promotion of mental health resources. “That’s something that we’ve initiated to try to also be very visible in outreach,” Drake said. Maddy Perry, deputy chief of staff in Undergraduate Student Government and a member of the Suicide and Mental Health Task Force’s implementation team for the warm line, said the idea for the line was presented before the recommendations were made and has been carefully planned since meetings began in January. “We didn’t just want to put out something to check off a box saying that we completed it. We want it to actually be really well thought out and a really big asset to the mental health resources and just wellness resources in general MENTAL HEALTH CONTINUES ON 3
Wexner Medical Center uses spray-on skin to treat burns BRANDY FAIRFAX Lantern reporter fairfax.5@osu.edu A new spray technique provides Wexner Medical Center patients with a second chance at skin. Burn victims now have the opportunity to regrow skin through a spray-on skin cell application, and the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State has become one of three hospitals in Ohio to treat burn wounds with the cell-regenerating spray. The Recell Autologous Cell Harvesting Device uses a sample of the patient’s skin — known as a skin graft — to begin the process. The skin is placed in the device, where the new cells are generated, and then sprayed on the wound to help the cells grow and heal, Amalia Cochran, a trauma surgeon at the medical center who specializes in burns and critical care, said. The Food and Drug Administration approved Recell in September 2018, making it the first approved spray-on skin device in the United States. Cochran said Recell is a onetime use technique in the operating room where a 2-by-2-inch piece of skin is taken and put through the Recell process, which
wounds. “This is definitely for acute burn injuries, meaning a new burn — not for a burn someone got 10 or 15 years ago,” Cochran said. “Generally, you will see it used on a larger burn in place of doing skin grafting, as well as it being used for deep partial-thickness burns.” After learning about Recell, patients have sought the treatment for other conditions, Valerio said.
BRANDY FAIRFAX | LANTERN REPORTER
The Recell Autologous Cell Harvesting Device regenerates cells for burn wounds for faster healing and less scarring.
generates the spray. The sample is used to cover an area of about 20 3 1/2-by-5-inch index cards.
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The technique will help generate skin for larger wounds that would normally have problems healing without Recell, Cochran said. Recell causes less scarring and heals skin faster compared to other treatments available, Cochran said. Full healing time can take up to a couple of weeks, but Cochran said the quickest she has seen was one week. “The wounds heal about twice as fast when the Recell spray skin
device was applied,” Ian Valerio, a plastic surgeon at the medical center, said. Cochran compares waiting to see the results to wondering what is inside your Christmas presents. “After the process is done, we wrap it up in dressing and don’t peek for about six days, which can be really hard for the patients,” Cochran said. Recell is intended for burn wounds that are treated immediately after the injury, not past
“The wounds heal about twice as fast when the Recell spray skin device was applied.” IAN VALERIO Plastic surgeon
“I have already started using it for traumatic wounds in addition to burn wounds,” Valerio said. “There’s some other theoretical advantages that will be interesting to see in long-term studies if the spray skin technique can allow for pigmentation of skin to be returned, although that is future areas of study that has yet to be investigated.”