2
Wallkill Valley Times , Wednesday , January 4 , 2017
IN THIS ISSUE |
Calendar ................. |
12 |
Classifieds ................ |
26 |
Crossword ................ |
28 |
Letters to the Editor .......... |
8 |
Maybrook ................. |
21 |
Montgomery ............... |
21 |
Obituaries ................ |
10 |
Opinion ................... |
8 |
Pine Bush ................. |
22 |
Police Blotter ............... |
4 |
School News ............... |
24 |
Service Directory ........... |
30 |
Sports ................... |
36 |
Walden ................... |
20 |
Wallkill ................... |
23 |
Walker Valley .............. |
22 |
PUBLIC AGENDA
THURSDAY , JANUARY 5 Montgomery Town Board , 7 p . m . Town Government Center , 110 Bracken Road . Shawangunk Town Board , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 14 Central Ave ., Wallkill
MONDAY , JANUARY 9 Maybrook Village Board , 7 p . m . Village Government Center , 111 Schipps Lane , Maybrook . Valley Central Board of Education 7:15 p . m . Administration building , 944 Route 17K , Montgomery . Town of Montgomery Planning Board , 7:30 p . m . Town Government Center , 110 Bracken Road , Montgomery .
TUESDAY , JANUARY 10
Pine Bush Board of Education , 7 p . m . Pine Bush High School Cafeteria .
HOW TO REACH US
OFFICE : 300 Stony Brook Court Newburgh , N . Y . 12550
PHONE : 845-561-0170 , FAX : 845-561-3967
Emails may be directed to the following : ADVERTISING advertising @ tcnewspapers . com
CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS calendar @ tcnewspapers . com
TO REACH THE EDITOR editor @ tcnewspapers . com
FOR THE SPORTS DEPARTMENT sports @ tcnewspapers . com
PUBLIC NOTICES legals @ tcnewspapers . com
WEBSITE www . timescommunitypapers . com
The Wallkill Valley Times , ( USPS 699-490 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , N . Y . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Wallkill Valley Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . 12550
Haitian study Valley Central student prepares for a career in medicine
By JESSICA COHEN jcohen @ tcnewspapers . com
The education of Valley Central senior Jackie Villalpando recently included packing barrels with medications for cholera , dehydration , pain , hypertension , and other ailments that are too common in Haiti . She helped orthopedist Ronald Israelski prepare for a medical expedition to Haiti as part of her participation in Med-Achieve , a program based at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Middletown , that introduces high school students to medical careers .
The program includes classes at Touro that provide some of the same information medical students would get , says Devin Howell , a Touro student and co-coordinator of Med-Achieve . He introduced the program at Valley Central , his alma mater , to give students exposure to medical professions before they choose their college direction .
When he graduated from Valley Central , he thought he wanted to be an engineer , so he studied engineering at SUNY Binghamton .
“ I liked mechanical parts as a kid , but the program was all computers and desk work ,” he said .
However , he had been a fire department member since high school , and his first semester at Binghamton he joined the ambulance service .
“ I gradually became enchanted with the impact on people ’ s lives of those 20 or 30 minutes during transport ,” said Howell .
Now a third year student at Touro , he contacted the guidance department at Valley Central High School last year to recruit students for the Med-Achieve program . As a result , Jackie Villalpando joined in her junior year . That first year he asked guidance counselors to select “ the best of the best ” students , but the second year , with no such requests or requirements , that was the kind of student who joined . The program now has 45 students .
They commit to 22 two-hour sessions from September to April , Howell says . Lectures cover anatomy , ethics , the birth process , heart and lung exams , checking vital signs , blood pressure , heart sounds ,
Jackie Villalpando , now a senior at Valley Central , joined the Med Achieve Program in her junior year .
and special circumstances . With a patient on life support , what are the options ?
“ I ’ ve been very impressed with the kids ,” said Howell . “ They ’ re like sponges . Three weeks after a lecture , without taking notes , they remember it . The program is geared toward guiding students toward medical careers , but not pushing them .”
Classes expose students to options such as physician ’ s assistant , nursing , emergency medical transport , and veterinary medicine . Several students have already said they plan to join an ambulance agency , said Howell .
On another day , Jackie and her sister Lidice , 18 , a SUNY Orange student , got on the phone together to talk about Dr . Israelski and the Touro program .
“ I got involved because Jackie was packaging medical supplies for Haiti , and she asked me to help publicize the project ,” said Lidice .
They have heard Israelski talk about the impoverished hospital in Port-au-Prince , largest in Haiti , where he has wheeled out patients who died when the generator failed . Surgical tools are crude , and when he has sent supplies and equipment , they have somehow never arrived . So on the trip for which Jackie was packing , he carried all technology and medical supplies himself . The consequences of the 2012 Haiti earthquake continue to manifest in epidemics of disease , he says .
As for Jackie , she says , “ I ’ m a science person with medical interests .”
She has taken the classes Howell described , and now she looks forward to having opportunities to “ shadow ” doctors , such as Dr . Israelski . She is intrigued by his efforts in Haiti and the overwhelming challenges there .
“ Dr . Israelski brings medicine , vaccines , education , and residents to help treat patients and train doctors ,” said Lidice . “ So many components . It ’ s mesmerizing that he comes from the little town of Goshen .”
“ I was packing materials so they would be trackable and organized ,” said Jackie . “ He used an app to scan the medicines to make sure they ’ re organized . Dr . Israelski ’ s very passionate . He compares Haiti to the Holocaust . His mother survived Auschwitz . I learned a lot about Haiti and helping other countries .”
She is reminded of her own parents , who came from South America .
“ People didn ’ t have medical assistance and information , and they died as a result ,” Jackie said . “ My mother ’ s brother died of pneumonia when he was two weeks old because of bad advice .”
When Jackie was younger , she played doctor , she said . Now she thinks of being one .
“ So far , I ’ ve just gone to lectures ,” she said . “ But when I ’ m 18 , I can go to the operating room .”