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MedStart 2012
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MedStart Summer Camp 2012 applications are in!
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Connecting Students to Health Careers
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Greetings!
 Warm weather is on the way!
For students and teachers the countdown to summer is starting. Everyone is getting anxious for the warm weather! Let us keep you updated on some past events, and events that are soon to be underway. |
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Homemade Horehound Cough Drops |
Cough season is still upon us and this is an easy recipe to make
cough drops using the medicinal herb Horehound. This would be a great activity for teachers to conduct with their students. Here is a simple recipe that will fill a sandwich bag with golden horehound cough drops. The honey covers the bitter taste of this aromatic herb. You can also substitute or combine with other herbs, such as mint or sage.
* 1 cup fresh horehound leaves
* 1 cup water
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 tablespoons honey
* granulated or powdered sugar, to coat
1. Put horehound in a small nonreactive saucepan and add water. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Allow to cool, then remove horehound and squeeze out liquid. Add sugar and honey to pan, stir with a wooden spoon while bringing to a boil, then turn heat down to a gentle simmer. If bubbles threaten to overflow the pan, reduce heat slightly and stir.
2. Boil to hard-crack stage (330 degrees), but even if you use a candy thermometer, test often toward the end of cooking to get the hardness right. Keep a shallow cup of cold water nearby. Stir the liquid occasionally, and watch how it falls from the spoon. When it forms a thread, begin testing for hardness by allowing a drop of the mixture to fall into the cup of cold water. Don't trust your fingers to examine the now-hardened drop in the cup: bite it. If it's at all gooey or sticks to your teeth, keep cooking. When it's hard enough to crack when you bite it, remove pan from heat immediately.
3. If the mixture crystallizes, just add a cup of water and an extra tablespoon of honey to the pan, scrape the crystalline chunks into it and begin again.
4. Lightly butter a candy mold, cookie sheet or other heatproof baking pan, and pour in the hot mixture. If you're using a flat-bottomed pan, score the surface of the candy after it has cooled enough to become firm. This will help in breaking it apart, which should be done as soon as the candy can be handled.
5. After individual drops are formed, sift granulated or powdered sugar over them to keep homemade cough drops from sticking together. Store horehound cough drops in a moisture-proof container.
Horehound Cough Drops |
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MedStart Summer Camp 2012 |
The applications are in and 114 students have been chosen for the 4 camps this summer! To see the full list of students who have been accepted into MedStart click here.
MedStart Summer Camp is an AHEC funded program designed to encourage current sophomore and junior high school students to pursue their interest in a variety of healthcare careers. MedStart is completely free of charge to the students.
There will be 4 camps during the summer of 2012:
- Billings - MSU-B Campus: June 24-29, 2012
- Missoula - U of M Campus: June 24-29, 2012
- Bozeman - MSU Campus: June 24-29, 2012
- Great Falls - University of GF Campus: July 8-13, 2012
For more information, please contact Bergen Morehouse, South Central Montana AHEC Assistant Director 406.683.2790 or bergen@mtha.org
www.scmtahec.org |
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Teacher Training |
Health Science New Teacher Training
June 11-15, 2012
Health Science is a relatively new program in Career and Technical Education and there are no teacher training programs for this discipline. In Montana, we have developed our own health science teacher training program for high school science or health enhancement teachers that have a collegiate background in anatomy and physiology.
This is a one week course starting June 11, 2012 at the *Miles Community College campus in Miles City. After this 40 hour course, teachers are also required to complete a 40 hour job shadowing experience at a local medical facility to gain an understanding of the healthcare system. The job shadow also introduces you to potential guest speakers for your class.
Upon completion of the course and job shadow you can apply for a Class 4A Endorsement in Health Science from the Office of Public Instruction.
*The 2012 Teacher Training is currently located in Miles City; however the location may be changed to accommodate the majority of applicants.
To register for this training, please contact Renee Harris, Health Science Specialist, at Rharris3@mt.gov or 406-994-6986.
Travel, lodging, meals and curriculum will be provided for free.
Registration for this training closes May 4th at 5 PM.
You must have administrative support from your school to initiate a health science program at your school. |
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Kitchen Chemistry: 100 Cool Science Experiments | |
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Stained Glass Milk: Turn a simple bowl of cow juice into a work of kinetic art using food coloring and liquid soap, learning all about molecular structure along the way. -
Plastic Milk: Learn how to separate the casein found in milk, ultimately winding up with an intriguing plastic-like substance. -
Cheesequake: A simple slice of American cheese with more processing than Cher's voice offers up some surprisingly useful geology lessons. -
Homemade Butter: This tasty experiment not only provides a tasty treat, but a valuable look at chemistry and changing states of matter as well. -
Milk Glue: A brew of milk, vinegar and baking soda makes for a viable, sustainable adhesive for minor projects. -
Plastic Bag Ice Cream: This fun, edible experiment allows kids to watch as their milk freezes and undergoes a special process to become a special frozen treat. -
Optimum Tea Temperature: Believe it or not, the time cold milk is added to a cuppa tea can affect its overall taste at different temperatures. This experiment explains how the perfect pour works. - Moldy Cheese: Different styles of cheese mold at different rates, raising some interesting questions about what factors affect this disparity.
- Everyone Loves Coagulates: Vinegar and milk together make a rather horrifying potion of failure and stench, but it does provide insight into the concepts behind cheese making.
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Creamy Carbohydrates: More appropriate for a lab than a kitchen, high school kids with a knack for playing with their food may enjoy testing the carbohydrate levels of different milk varieties.
For many more experiments click on the link below:
Kitchen Chemistry
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Education Spotlight: Respiratory Therapist |
Respiratory Therapy is the health care discipline that specializes in the promotion of optimum cardiopulmonary function and health. Respiratory therapists apply scientific principles to prevent, identify, and treat acute or chronic dysfunction of the cardiopulmonary system. Their knowledge of the scientific principles underlying cardiopulmonary physiology and pathophysiology, as well as biomedical engineering and technology, enable them to effectively assess, educate, and treat patients with cardiopulmonary disorders.
As a health care profession, respiratory therapy is practiced under medical direction. Respiratory Care is specifically focused on the prevention, assessment, treatment, management, control, diagnostic evaluation, education, and care of patients with deficiencies and abnormalities of the cardiopulmonary system. Critical thinking, patient/environment assessment skills, and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines enable respiratory therapists to develop and implement effective care plans, protocols, and disease management programs.
In addition to entry level skills, advanced level therapists participate in clinical decision-making and patient education, the development and implementation of protocols and treatment plans, health promotion, disease prevention and disease management. Although they practice under the supervision of a physician, they are required to exercise considerable independent judgment in providing respiratory therapy to patients.
Schools in Montana that offer a Respiratory Care Technician Program:
MSU-Great Falls COT
UM Missoula COT |
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Public Health PSA Contest |
The North Central AHEC office is proud to announce the winners of their first Public Health PSA Contest- Breanna Kirby and Mikalya Henke of Shelby High School. CONGRATS ladies! Breanna and Mikayla submitted their winning PSA entitled "Healthy Living", which outlines the behaviors and actions of young adults in their communities and the choices they can make regarding healthy lifestyles.
The objective of this contest was to encourage students to look at public health careers as careers of interest by working with local, county health departments to identify and expose the student's interest in healthcare careers, helping to minimize the impeding healthcare professions shortage. As part of the application process, students were to interview their local public health department staff and investigate career explorations in the public health industry while determining a pertinent health issues affecting their local community. Once a topic is decided, the students were to develop/create a 30 to 60 second public service announcement.
The judgment criteria included the following:
-demonstration of knowledge obtained from public health department
-creativity
-professionalism/quality of video in terms of public use
-pertinence of health issue
-promotion of public health careers
Shelby High School will be receiving a state of the art, Celestron LCD microscope with a digital, built-in camera and an accompanying set of 100 anatomy microscope slides.
Job well done, ladies! Congratulations!
To view the winning PSA click here |
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Science Fair |
Science Fair Season in the North Central Region
 The North Central AHEC office had the pleasure of participating/assisting in the Montana Regional Science Fair in Great Falls on February 25th and 29th. Over 700 K-12th graders from over 22 North Central region schools displayed hundreds of science experiments for the judges and community. Jody Haines, director of the North Central AHEC region, presented an "Outstanding presentation in Medical/Healthcare in honor of a commitment to rural healthcare excellence." The award was presented to Hali Miller, a senior from Sunburst High school. Hali's presentation was entitled "Electromagnetic Radiation and its Effect on Drosophila Melanogaster." She interviewed and worked with several healthcare professionals from her rural town in order to successfully complete her project. While working with these individuals, she realized the true meaning of a healthcare occupation in rural Montana and hopes to work in a rural Montana healthcare setting in her future. She is planning on studying medicine or nursing and will be attending the University of Montana next year. Congratulations, Hali!
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Hands on Health |
Look for the Hands on Health exhibit coming to a rural area near you!
The North Central office has coordinated with SpectrUM to bring Hands on Health to the following communities within the North Central region, in the upcoming months:
- Chester, May 7th
- Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, May 8th and 9th
- Rocky Boy Indian Reservation, dates TBD
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North Central AHEC Job Shadowing |
Are you interested in a healthcare career? Want to know more about what exactly the job duties are? Sign up to shadow a healthcare professional, in your community, today!
The North Central AHEC office has a formal job shadow program, designed to accommodate your needs/wants/interests. Whether you are exploring career options, amping your resume and experience to apply to graduate and/or medical school, or just want to see if healthcare is for you...check out the following link :
North Central MT Job Shadowing
We would love to get you connected!
For more information, contact Kailyn Dorhauer, NC AHEC program coordinator at Kailyn.dorhauer@montana.edu
For job shadowing opportunies in other regions:
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Upcoming REACH Camps | |
Eastern MT AHEC
- April 11th at Frances Mahon Deaconeses Hospital in Glasgow for Valley, Daniels, and Sheridan county high schools
- April 24th at Glendive Medical Center in Glendive for Dawson, McCone, Prairie, and Wibaux County high schools
- April 25th - Baker REACH/Health Fair - interested students sign up with their counselors for the health fair
- April 26th at Northern Cheyenne Serice Unit in Lame Deer for Rosebud County high schools and Community College students
North Central MT AHEC
- April 4th at Marias Medical Center in Shelby for all 7-8th grade students attending public, private, or home school within Toole County. A total of 64 students will be accepted!
- April 25th at Teton Medical Center in Choteau for 7-8th graders attending public, private, or home school within Teton County.
South Central MT AHEC
- May 1st at Deer Lodge Medical Center for 10-12th grade students from Powell County High School
- May 3rd at Broadwater Health Center for 9-10th grade students from Broadwater, Three Forks, and Manhattan High Schools
Western MT AHEC
- April 2nd at Clark Fork Valley Hospital for Noxon and Thompson Falls High School
- May 25th at Clark Fork Valley Hospital for Plains and Hot Springs
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Career Spotlight: Health Information Coding | |
When you visit your doctor, your medical insurance provider will probably receive a bill for CPT code "99211." That code tells the insurer that you had an "office visit." If you got an x-ray or had blood taken, those services would also be represented by CPT codes on your bill.
There are over 9,000 CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) codes - one for every type of health care service provided by health care practitioners or facilities. There are another 13,500 ICD-9 codes for medical diagnoses, plus more codes for medical supplies and for various health care settings.
Medical coders spend their days sorting through patient charts to assign these codes and ensure that the health care providers they work for are properly reimbursed for their services. Coding accurately is not easy - the coder must carefully read the doctor's and nurse's notes to determine exactly what services the patient received.
Like taxpayers who fail to declare all the deductions they're entitled to, coders often fail to bill for services performed. By some estimates, inaccurate or incomplete coding costs the average doctor thousands of dollars a year in lost payments.
Because physicians and hospitals depend on accurate coding to receive proper reimbursement, the role of the coder is becoming more valued. Coders once learned their work "on the job." Now you can train to become a Certified Professional Coder (CPC), a designation that demonstrates to potential employers a certain level of coding skill and accuracy.
Text courtesy of explorehealthcareers.org:
Explore Health Careers
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AHEC - The Basics |
This E-News is being sent to you by the Montana Area Health Education Centers (AHEC's) in order to open a dialogue among educators about Health Science Education for K-12 students of Montana. Through this newsletter we intend to:
- Build a shared resource of activities, materials, and lesson plans to draw on in teaching the health sciences
- Highlight the cross-curriculum nature of the health sciences
- Build an interest in and awareness of health career paths for students in the state of Montana
Please contact us with your comments, ideas, questions or projects you'd like to see highlighted in future issues of this e-newsletter. And thank you for the work you do every day to inspire and support Montana kids!
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Sincerely,
Montana AHECs (Area Health Education Centers)
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