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Student Profile

“If You Are Hungry”: Cathy Chamberlin, MSI

If you are hungry enough, you will eat a scorpion.

Cathy prefers them roasted, but others eat them raw. That’s because you need a fire to cook them, and to start a fire without matches is difficult, especially in the rain. To catch a scorpion, you can ignore the legs with their pinchers and focus entirely on the poison-tipped barb suspended from its tail. That’s what does the real damage to human flesh, so make sure to staple the tail to the ground with a stick or your finger, then ignore the pinching claws and carefully grasp the tail firmly between two fingers. There! That wasn’t too hard, was it? After that, it’s child’s play to twist out the barb with its poison sack, and you can easily kill the scorpion and roast it over your fire. That’s how it’s done – now you try.

Ok, so maybe there’s more than a little technique required to kill and eat a scorpion, and Cathy really doesn’t care much for the flavor, but she covets their protein after several days without food. A natural teacher, Cathy charismatically explains the entire process so that even a city-slicker could probably give it a go - in a pinch. Cathy loves the wild and the remote, and she has spent the better part of ten years training others in the art of wilderness survival.

"Fort Girls”

She grew up in Augusta, Maine. “When I was in the 5th grade,” Cathy recalls, “I convinced my little friend to hike the Maine portion of the Appalachian Trail with me – the most bee-ut-i-ful part. We thought, ‘This will be fun!’” She says this with a Cheshire grin and a gleam in her eye that makes you expect a story. Stories are fun, too. “So we did a little research and got some gear together. We had our school backpacks and some crackers in plastic bags, and my friend had an 8-person tent. That’s what we had. No maps, no stove. And my 16-year old sister was only too happy to drop us off at the end of the trail. We left a note for my friend’s parents that said, ‘Please pick us up on the Maine-New Hampshire line of the Appalachian Trail - in two weeks.’” Cathy grins, wide-eyed. “Of course, there is no access point to that part of the Appalachian Trail, but we didn’t know that.”

Cathy continues. “We had no idea what we were doing. People looked at us like, ‘What are you doing out here?’ We hiked for two weeks. On the trail, people come up with trail names for other people. They called us ‘Fort Girls,’ because we had such a huge tent. People took care of us. When we ran out of food, they shared their food. When it poured, they told us to seek shelter. Everyone was so caring and helpful.” Imagine two 11-year old girls packing an enormous canvas tent as they flutter along the Appalachian Trail by themselves. The story stretches credulity; weren’t the Maine Game Wardens out looking for the girls? Weren’t their parents frantic? Cathy explains: “My dad was in Saudi Arabia at the time, and when I asked my Mom afterwards why she didn’t stop us, she just said, ‘When you explained your plan to me, you seemed so full of confidence that I was confident, too.’” Such is the magic of Cathy Chamberlin.

The end of the hike was a rude awakening. “It was raining, and my friend slipped and hurt her knee,” Cathy recalls. Alone on the Appalachian Trail, without adults present, without any medical training, the girls turned to the only wisdom they had: Don Fendler’s Lost on a Mountain in Maine. “Isn’t that the book where you learn that if you follow a brook downstream, you’ll eventually end up in civilization?” Cathy asks. After following a stream, the girls arrived at the side of a dirt road where they hitched a ride from a “very scary man” in a pick-up truck and were able to contact their families to rescue them. “You would think that would have turned me off to hiking,” Cathy muses, “but it didn’t. I thought, ‘This is awesome!’”

“Know More, Carry Less”

At Cony High School in Augusta, Cathy ran the Outing Club and took every opportunity to experience the wilderness. A short stint as a SOLO course instructor (the program was founded by UNECOM alum Frank Hubbell, D.O., ‘91), prepared her for an even greater challenge as a survival guide at the world-famous Boulder Outdoor Survival School (B.O.S.S.) in Boulder, Utah (population: 106). For seven years, Cathy led expeditions that tested the limits of human endurance and ingenuity in the deserts of Utah. It was serious wilderness immersion, without the 8-man tent or crackers.

Founded in 1968, B.O.S.S. is best known for its field expeditions of 7, 14, or 28 days. Following the motto “Know more, carry less,” instructors train students to survive in the desert, starting with basically nothing. In the initial “Impact” phase, students are dropped off in the remote desert with little more than a blanket and a porcelain cup: No food, no water, no tent, and no maps. All the “essentials” of modern expeditions are jettisoned in favor of knowledgeable instructors who teach ancient, indigenous methods of survival. 

When Castaway producers wanted realistic desert survival techniques for Tom Hanks, it was B.O.S.S. that did the consult work. National Geographic has followed B.O.S.S. teams, as have numerous outdoor magazines. Charlie’s Angels were put through a custom four-day course with B.O.S.S. instructors, and television series like Lost and Survivor have utilized B.O.S.S. extensively. The military, too, has sent elite units through survival training at B.O.S.S., recognizing the importance of a “no gear” approach to wilderness survival and navigation.
 
Follow the Butterflies to Water

Cathy led 28-day expeditions that covered hundreds of miles and would have been deadly without proper training. “You learn to hunt, forage, fish with your hands, make clay pots to cook food, and build a fire using sticks,” Cathy says. Instructors teach students to navigate by the stars, never to drink water – no matter how clear – if there is nothing living in it (it is probably alkaline and poisonous), and to recognize the edible flora and fauna of the local environment. How do you find water when the nearest pool may be 15 miles away? Follow the butterflies, since in the desert they fly toward fresh water. Birds will, too.

It is in the wilderness that one learns the meaning of hunger, says Cathy, and the culinary scruples of civilization are no longer germane. Students start with no food or water, and it is sometimes three or four days before they encounter anything edible. They may hike for a day or more with no water. Under such circumstances, scorpions become appetizing options, and mice and lizards may be trapped and eaten. “I don’t necessarily prefer scorpions,” Cathy wrinkles her nose, “but if you are hungry enough…” Grubs, bugs, and snakes sometimes slither onto the menu, too. “Some things you just hold your nose and close your eyes and swallow,” Cathy smiles. Grubs are like chewing cherry tomatoes: they sort of explode in your mouth.

There is always danger in the vast and unpredictable wilderness. “You learn that humans are incredibly fragile and vulnerable,” Cathy says, “but you also see the ‘raw human’ out in the wilderness, stripped away from all their conveniences and luxuries. People become real people; they are kind, supportive, alive, and they bond together to form a wonderful support network.” Cathy’s eyes gleam when she talks about teaching. “I like bringing someone new into the environment and seeing the twinkle in their eye when they learn something important. It is a great confidence-building time, since lots of the students are college folks, and I love being a part of that dynamic time of potential. It is a privilege to help train them.”

Who are her best students? Cathy doesn’t hesitate. “Older folks are the best students in wilderness survival,” she says. “They are patient, conserve energy well, and don’t mind huddling together at night to stay warm.” And the most difficult students? “Navy SEALS!” Cathy laughs. “They are young, have high metabolisms, and they aren’t used to just wandering around. They tend to want to take charge, be in control, and get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. They also don’t like the idea of cuddling to stay warm at night. But they learn.”

Wilderness Medicine

Dartmouth College sometimes allows students to take a very non-traditional approach to school. “I did my undergrad degree over ten years,” Cathy says, “one semester on, two semesters off, one semester on, three semesters off.” She was a biology major, but didn’t think much about becoming a doctor, since doctoring to her meant staying in a hospital all day and not being able to develop long-term patient relationships. But her experience as a Wilderness EMT - and a radical evolution in wilderness medicine during the last ten years - made her realize that becoming a physician would increase her skill level and make her more effective in remote terrain.

“I knew a little about medicine,” Cathy recalls, “but I wanted to know more. I wanted to take better care of groups and myself in the wilderness.” Another motivating factor was her own experience internationally with her father, an ER doc with a passion for overseas medicine. “He began traveling in the early ‘90’s,” Cathy says, “to Tanzania, Irian Jaya, Saudi Arabia, and then to Liberia. He would come home and work at Goodall Hospital [in Sanford, Maine] to earn money, then travel overseas to train local doctors or take their place so they could receive further training.”

Cathy lived with her dad in Saudi Arabia during her early teen years, flying back occasionally to Maine to load up on homework assignments for school. The cultural experience was extraordinary. “It was amazing,” Cathy says. “Going through puberty as a woman in that culture was very different. People couldn’t talk to me, since I was a girl. They had to speak to my father, and then he would speak to me. I had to wear an abaya. There were lots of barriers and cultural boundaries.” When her father drove to a clinic far out in the Arabian desert, Cathy was struck by the stark isolation. “We drove for hours and hours,” she says, “and I remember thinking, ‘If we get a flat tire out here, we can’t just call AAA.’ There was nothing but people living in tents with some camels.”

“Enormous Resource Limitation”

Both of these influences - her love of wilderness medicine, and the profound lack of resources that isolated people groups experience - motivated Cathy to pursue further medical training. But just any training wouldn’t do; it had to fit Cathy’s passions, her needs, and her philosophy of living. “I decided to apply to osteopathic schools because of OMM and the use of your hands as a physician,” she says. “There is enormous resource limitation in the wilderness, and in the international setting drugs run out or get lost. I wanted a tool that I could use anywhere, no matter how isolated, and which I could teach to other people.”

UNECOM offered a happy medium between a big city (Boston) and the wilderness of Maine, and an “amazing student body.” The latter is crucial, says Cathy. “My classmates are fun, joyful, super supportive, and hard-working. I’m not a big stressor, and I feel that my peers here have the same philosophy. I love OMM, and how quickly you connect with everyone and develop a trusting and vulnerable relationship. Medical school is so much more enjoyable than I thought – I like all of it!” 

Cathy has played a part in re-invigorating an already robust Wilderness Medicine Club, helping to organize outings, hikes, climbs, and expeditions, while also leading a trio of students to a second-place finish at the highly competitive New England MedWars in October. Students recently completed a winter ascent of Mt. Washington, and are planning an excursion to Mt. Katahdin in March. For Cathy, it adds balance to her life as a student.

The Village Sold Chickens

Now we come to the final chapter of this story, which is just the beginning of a greater and wider story in which Cathy plays a role. While at Dartmouth College, Cathy met her husband, Joel Wickre, who is also very interested in international medicine and community development. They make a fantastic team – Joel, skilled at envisioning comprehensive programs, and Cathy, focused on implementing them at the human level through developing relationships and training. “It is blissful to find a partner you love to be with, who so complements you,” Cathy smiles.

At Dartmouth, Joel and Cathy encountered two young pre-medical students who were natives of Lwala, Kenya, an isolated village far from any medical facility. Milton and Fred Ochieng were intent on fulfilling the dying wish of their father to build a clinic in Lwala to prevent more people dying of AIDS. The village sold chickens and cows to give the boys one-way tickets to the United States, where their story captured the hearts of many people at the school. A community alliance formed in Lwala, with a sister organization founded in the U.S. to help channel funds and technical support to the remote region. During 2006-2007, Cathy and Joel lived for twelve months in Lwala, listening to the people to determine how best to meet the needs of the community.

The clinic was built as a community effort, with investment of funds from the U.S., but constructed by the people of Lwala. From the river, women carried buckets of sand on their heads to the worksite to make cement. The clinic opened in April 2007, and now sees 1500 patients per month. The Lwala Community Alliance, a 501 c(3) non-profit organization, oversees the program, with additional resources provided from the U.S., where Joel Wickre is the Executive Director. A documentary of the Clinic’s founding and the work of the Ochieng brothers and the Lwala Community Alliance will be shown in Nashville on March 27th. For more information and a trailer of the video, click on http://www.sonsoflwala.com/

Avoid the Roadblocks

Recent unrest in Kenya has made the new clinic even more vital. Contested elections and rising ethnic tensions between the majority Kikuyu tribe and the Luo tribe exploded into street protests at the end of December. Cathy and Joel traveled to Kenya during Christmas Break, and the two seasoned travelers were caught in the middle of the conflict. “We flew into Naivasha,” Cathy says, “and never were able to reach the clinic. We backpacked around, and there were roadblocks everywhere. Eventually, Naivasha became unsafe, though I wouldn’t say we were ever in direct danger ourselves.”

The couple traveled early in the morning to avoid roadblocks, but saw mobs scattering and police fighting them back. “We just made it past one of these confrontations,” Cathy recalls, “and when we were around the corner we heard gunshots and could hear people fighting and yelling.” The violence shocked her. “I remember thinking, ‘I can’t believe that these friends of ours are killing their neighbors,’ ” she says. “But I also couldn’t help but notice the feelings of disenfranchisement that the young Luos expressed. They would say, ‘We have nothing to lose!’ How can that happen?”

With main hospitals shut down, the new clinic in Lwala has become a triage center for many of the sick or wounded in the region. It is now bursting at the seams. Cathy and Joel were able to escape the violence and fly back to the U.S., but they are concerned for the people of Kenya and the future of the clinic. For her part, Cathy intends to return to train local medical personnel so that the clinic can become self-supporting. Mutually-transformative relationships are a passion of hers, and she believes that her training at UNECOM will give her the tools to pass that medical knowledge on. There is little doubt that Cathy will reach her goal. 

Teaching is a hunger for her, and if you are hungry enough…

- Steve Smith, RSAS

 

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News and Events

Step it UP! Coordinators Steph Schneider, MSII (left) and Juliann Minnon, MSII (right) pose with Dean Kelley during the initial registration. Photo by Steve Smith, RSAS.

Twice Around the Earth: UNECOM “Step it UP!” Program Promotes Winter Wellness

Nearly everyone in the College has one. They look like little blue pagers on the hips and laces of students and staff alike. No, they aren’t the latest mini-laptop from a certain computer manufacturer; neither are they the secret decoder boxes of initiates into a clandestine society. They’re pedometers, and there is no secret as to their purpose: to promote community health in the darkest months of the year.

Maine winters may tempt even the most dedicated fitness junkies to hibernate for a month or two. At the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, students have decided to make winter fitness a top priority. Pedometers and t-shirts purchased through an American Osteopathic Association (AOA) grant and the Office of Recruitment, Student, and Alumni Services (RSAS) have been distributed free of charge to all interested faculty, staff, and on-campus students. The goal is to have everyone in the College monitor their steps each day and mindfully increase their winter activity levels.

The program is the brainchild of second-year students Stephanie Schneider, from West Suffield, Connecticut, and Juliann Minnon, from Manchester, New Hampshire. “It started out with us working on a project for our pediatrics class,” says Schneider. “We had to design a program to encourage grade school kids to get active and healthy. After we finished planning out the project, Jules and I looked at each other and said, ‘This sounds fun! I wanna play!’ And then Step it UP! sort of steamrolled from there.”

The project received enthusiastic support from the Student Government Association and the College’s deans, and it also dovetailed nicely with AOA President Peter Ajluni’s 2008 theme of “D.O.s: Fit for Life.” Schneider says that fitness is important for everyone, but especially for healthcare professionals who should model healthy lifestyles for their patients. “It’s so hard to look a patient in the eye and say, ‘You need to exercise more and eat better,’ when you don’t do it yourself,” she laments. “You feel like a hypocrite. But this is something that everyone can do.”

A little bit of healthy competition doesn’t hurt, either. The first and second year classes are competing to see which class “Steps it UP!” the most, and have also challenged the faculty to a proportionate contest. The winning class will receive UNECOM water bottles and bragging rights for the next twelve months.

The program rolled out on January 15, and will run for five weeks. Participants wear their pedometers all day long, then log their daily step total and try to increase their steps over the course of the program. Physicians recommend 10,000 steps a day for good health, which is roughly equal to a half-hour of vigorous activity (in terms of energy expended; not actual time elapsed.) Many people don’t realize how many steps they can add simply by taking the stairs rather than the elevator, or pacing the halls in between classes.

How many steps equal a mile? That depends on an individual’s height and pace, but for a 4mph rate, the average person may range between 1850-2000 strides per mile. For those trying to shed a few holiday pounds, one pound of body fat is equal to about 3500 calories. It takes about one mile of walking (2000 steps) to burn 100 calories. Over the course of one week, an individual who walks 10,000 steps a day may burn the equivalent of 1 pound of body fat. Of course, healthy eating and rest are also important components of a healthy lifestyle.

To put the program in perspective, if the 300 individuals who have picked up pedometers each walk 10,000 steps per day (5 miles), over the course of the program the total distance walked should be around 52,500 miles, or roughly twice the circumference of the earth. Not bad for a Maine winter.

- Steve Smith, RSAS

Kristin Hughes, MSI, receives her Step it UP! T-shirt, pedometer, and log sheet.

 

Third Time a Charm? UNECOM OsteoBlast Turns Three

OsteoBlast, an annual celebration of osteopathic pride, good food, and fun games for medical students, incoming students, and local community members, will turn three this April 19th. The event started as a collaborative venture between the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA), the UNECOM Student Government (SGA), and the Office of Recruitment, Student, and Alumni Services (RSAS). Organizers felt the need for an end-of-the-year celebration that would bring closure for the on-campus students, and which would welcome incoming students to the special community of learning and caring that makes UNECOM unique.

This year, organizers are soliciting UNECOM club support to host games, supervise clinical skills tests, and staff information booths. They envision a three-pronged focus: fun for current students, a welcoming atmosphere for incoming students, and a mini-health fair for community members. Accepted students have already been asked to “Save the Date,” and organizers look forward to using the Alfond Lawn or the Campus Center Gym, depending upon weather conditions. With any luck, this year’s OsteoBlast will be bigger and better than ever!

 

 

Second Annual “Osteo-stache” to Raise Funds for Caring Unlimited

Medical students have organized the Second Annual “Osteo-stache” UNECOM Mustache Contest to raise money for Caring Unlimited, a domestic violence shelter in Biddeford.

Organizer Steph Schneider, MSII, used the elaborate rules from last year’s contest (which raised over $1,200 for Caring Unlimited), dividing contestants into “clean-shaven” and “previously bearded” categories. Men will solicit donations from friends, family members, and fellow students to support them as they grow whiskers in a variety of colors and styles. There are no female contestants this year.

After a month of sustained growth, men will need to shave down to only a mustache for a solid week, before the judging takes place.

Nor'easter Express Announces Free Gift-Drawings

Pick up a special ticket from your Nor’easter Bus Driver and have it punched each day you ride the bus. With 10 punches you can turn your ticket in at the Box Office at the Campus Center between 8am and 8pm, for a free certificate, good for a hot beverage of your choice at the Alfond Café!
But wait.... there's more...
That ticket you turned in for your hot beverage goes into drawings to be held every month, where one lucky winner will win $50.00 in flex points that can be used at any of UNE’s dining facilities!
And to top that...
Once each semester, those same tickets go into another drawing where the lucky commuter will win $100.00 !!!!
Also...
Once each year, a MAJOR PRIZE will be given to the Commuter of the Year: The person who has taken the bus more than any other person!!!!!
Tickets will also be available at the Campus Center Box Office. Too busy to walk over to the Campus Center? Send in your punched ticket by Campus Mail.

New Bus Stop Added Beginning Jan 22nd
The Boat Launch (also called the Marblehead boat launch) just down the road from UNE on Rt. 9, is available for UNE community members to utilize for commuter parking. The Nor’easter Express will stop in the parking lot and bring you the rest of the way to campus. We can use all of the spaces located in the upper parking lot. Sorry, no overnight parking.
Why hunt for a parking space?? Take the Bus!

Click here for the Nor'easter bus schedule
www.shuttlebus-zoom.com/UNE.pdf

 

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Current Students

Max Opoku-Agyemang, MSII, (left), chats with John Lowery, MSIII (center) and another bystander during the New England Research Club's Third Annual UNECOM Research Symposium. Photo by Jeani Reagan, Web-CT Specialist.

Maria Aguilo Seara (MS-III) was awarded a T-32 pre-doctoral research award in aging from Harvard Medical School. Student physician Aguillo-Seara is the first D.O. student to receive this award at Harvard and will be conducting research at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston for 8 weeks beginning April 2008. Her research will be on delirium following hip fracture surgery in older adults. 

 

Rob Levine (MS-II) and Meg Rothman (MS-I) received notification that they have been selected to present their research at the American Geriatrics Society Presidential Poster Session at the 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting. Abstracts receiving the highest scores through the peer review process are included in the Presidential Poster Session. Student physician Levine conducted his research as an American Federation for Aging Research Fellow that he was awarded for the summer of 2007 at Johns Hopkins Medical School; Student Physician Rothman conducted her research to complete her master's degree requirements at Boston University (2007).

 

Marilyn R. Gugliucci, Ph.D., director, Geriatric Education and Research, is the research mentor for these medical students and also served on Ms Rothman's Thesis Committee at BU.

 

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Photo Albums

MSIs Dave Riss and Julia McDonald pose on the summit of Mt. Washington during a Wilderness Medicine Club hike on January 26. Photo courtesy Dave Riss.

New England Research Club Third Annual UNECOM Research Symposium. Photos by Jeani Reagan, Web-CT Specialist.

Wilderness Medicine Club Ascent of Mt. Washington. Photos courtesy David Riss, MSI.

 

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Clinical Affairs Section

Alla Tibbetts, MSIV, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem during an independent rotation with UNECOM alum Simcha Shapiro. Photo courtesy Alla Tibbetts.

My trip to Israel

I arrived in Israel on one of the January Shabbats - everything was closed - and I found Tel-Aviv to be incredibly empty and sleepy. For a day, I had a chance to visit green, beautiful Haifa and the famous Baha-i Center. The Israeli week starts on Sunday, so when I got to Jerusalem I went to work with Dr. Simcha Shapiro, UNECOM ’02, at his clinic, “Listening Hands Institute,” on a corner of MaAlot-Dafna and Shimon Ha-Tzadik streets. Busy Jerusalem, cold Jerusalem, ancient Jerusalem was surprisingly friendly and welcoming. Dr. Shapiro had just opened his private osteopathic clinic in the spring of 2007 and already had built up a pool of very interesting patients.

On the regular day in the office, we saw patients and talked about different osteopathic approaches to treat different symptoms, conditions, even complaints. Dr. Shapiro shared that to understand the patient better, one has to connect with the inner doctor of this patient. “So that your doctor communicates with the patient’s doctor,” he said, “Create a space within for this communication, and then ask the question: How can I help you today? What can I do to help? The patient’s body will tell you what requires the most attention at this particular moment.” We talked about osteopathy; about healing and the different approaches to it; about bedside manner; and about listening.
 
Sometimes our discussions happened in the office between patient visits; sometimes they happened on the way to the bus station after the day of work (we took the bus to the Hassidic community where Dr. Shapiro lives outside of Jerusalem, what’s called “over the green line”). Contrary to the media portrayal of the Israeli situation, life was very quiet in the community, although the buses were equipped with bulletproof glass as a sad reminder of past days.
      
Several days a week, Dr. Shapiro works at the local Medical Center in Ramot Eshkol, practicing general medicine: it’s amazing - EMR rules! No charts, minimal waiting time to see a primary care provider, very efficient visits, and minimal paperwork. I was impressed with the computer system and access to med documentation that I worked with.
       
Right in the middle of my rotation, George W. Bush, the President, decided to join the peace process in Israel and came to visit the country. It created complications for me - simply inconvenience - buses were not going where I needed them to go, a lot of streets were blocked for several days in downtown Jerusalem, taxi cabs were prospering tremendously, asking for up to 80 shekels for the 10-minute ride (compared to 15-20 shekels on a regular day). Thankfully, I had a day off and took a trip to the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi and Masada, while dear George W. decided to visit Ramallah (The capital of the Palestinian Authority, situated just 10-minutes away from the community where we lived), so the only major road to Jerusalem was closed for the day, but I managed to escape early in the morning to get to my tour company.
     
People gave me little tips here and there: Don’t go that way; Don’t get out of the Kotel tunnel tour on the Arabic side of the old city; and do not take a cab outside the city walls. People were teaching me all the time for my safety. Periodically, I received messages on my Israeli cell phone: “Today, total of 20 rockets hit Sderot…” They reminded me that somewhere close there was a war on for this Holy Land… somewhere close, but distant enough to not affect the life of Jerusalem. The situation in Gaza escalated beyond Israeli tolerance, and at the end of my trip, they (the Israeli authorities) blocked the borders.
     
Besides his work as a physician in a city, Dr. Shapiro does share house call with four other docs in two big communities, serving thousands of people. People walk to get him even during Shabbat if there is any medical emergency (buses do not go to or from settlements, to the city, during Shabbat, allowing drivers to have a day off).
     
Dr. Shapiro was able to show me some interesting manipulative techniques he learned during his residency training with the “old school D.O.’s,” as well as his approach to sequencing osteopathic intervention. ”It is extremely important to correctly sequence your treatment,” he said, “otherwise you can be treating the same problem again and again and won’t get any improvement.” I felt like my rotation was very fulfilling in all of its aspects: teaching, learning, observing and trying new OMM techniques, as well as having an excellent time to touch a history of ancient Jerusalem and of the Promised Land.
      
I’m glad that I was able to have such an amazing experience in Israel, working with a well-respected, U.S.-trained D.O., visiting the historical sites that are sacred to my Jewish heart, living with the wonderful family that made Aliyah (moving to Israel) from America, and being a part of their life for the time of my rotation.
 
- Alla Tibbetts, MSIV

Hasidic (Orthodox) Jews stroll down a street in Jerusalem. Photo by Alla Tibbetts, MSIV.

 

COMments from Rotations

My third year rotations have been incredibly fulfilling, but most of all refreshing. Life on campus was great, and, at times, I really miss being able to attend lectures and live in coffee shops night after night. However, when you are living test-to-test it makes it all too easy to fall into a routine and forget about the outside world. Leaving the comforts of UNECOM has reminded me of why I chose medicine as a path, which is helping people.

On my third year rotations in Rhode Island, I have been able to rekindle my love of medicine and have a positive effect on many people’s lives. My rotation in Rhode Island is everything I hoped it would be. Being close to my family and friends allows me a peace of mind that enables me to get the most out of my clinical experience. The saying “what you put in it is what you get out of it” has never seemed so true.

- Joe Charpentier, MSIII

You couldn't make this stuff up!
 
I'm primarily talking about my psychiatry rotation at Maine Medical Center and Spring Harbor Hospitals. Just a few quick quotes from my patients: "A hip-hop drug cartel is after me…they sing and they do drugs;" and "Do you have any covered wagons?," and finally, "You might say I'm a bit off my rocker, but it's a nice place to be."  

Needless to say, psychiatry has been an incredible learning experience. Even if you're not interested in it, I guarantee that you'll be able to get something out of it! In every aspect of medicine there are people with debilitating anxiety, depression, and delusional thinking. Not to mention the aggressive folks who stare at you like they want to step on your soul. Learning how to interact with these types of patients is the first, biggest reason to not forget about psych; the second is that you couldn't make up some of these stories if you tried!

So – backtracking a little – Southern Maine rotations have been treating me very well. I began with the Neuroanatomy fellowship, which anyone remotely interested in neuro, psych, physiatry, or teaching should really give some thought about applying to. It's arguably the most challenging rotation you'll do, but it's an experience not available elsewhere.

Next up, I moved onto IM at Mercy in which I rotated with the UNE family medicine intern on the Hospitalist service. This rotation was a great intro to inpatient medicine. It's very much a "what you make of it" type of rotation in which observing procedures during down time or asking to follow more patients is required. An added bonus is that by next year the new Mercy Hospital should be open - which should be a very nice place to work.

After IM, I came over to MMC for family practice on the inpatient service. This rotation was phenomenal! I promise you'll work hard, 6-6 every day, but the interns, residents, attendings, and program director are solid teachers, caring docs, and most importantly, very fun people to spend 12 hours a day with. This was a great way to get some added inpatient experience. While I missed exposure to certain office procedures, I gained experience in inpatient pediatrics (4 patients) and newborn exams (3).

Most recently I'm on psychiatry, which has included the acute stay inpatient psychiatric hospital at Spring Harbor (3 weeks) and the neuropsych dementia unit at MMC (3 weeks). If you're interested in psych, I definitely recommend these rotations. The teaching has been phenomenal and the autonomy granted to students is impressive.

So, all in all rotations are a lot better than sitting in lectures. They are a priceless opportunity to observe how the pathophys of disease manifests in humans. Regardless of the rotation spot, you are guaranteed to see patients and disease presentations you could never have made up. From patients with CADASIL to HIV, heroin addiction to erhliciosis, and Muchausen's to diffuse large cell lymphoma, it is intellectually stimulating and incredibly rewarding to be part of the team that provides their care.

Lastly I'd like to mention that MMC is an impressive place to be. The culture of teaching, tireless patient care, and the quality of individuals at MMC have made it an incredibly challenging and rewarding place to begin the hospital years of medical school.

- Rejean Guerriero, MSIII

Moving to Newark, New Jersey after a leisurely summer of studying for the boards was quite a shock. I felt unprepared to deal with actual patients who would not come with multiple-choice answers upon presentation. My fears were quickly justified, as my first patient was a 4-year-old girl with bloody diarrhea who couldn't speak a word of English. All those history-taking questions I had dutifully memorized just didn't seem to cut it, and I felt lost and discouraged. But as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, I learned from every adverse experience and used them to become a better medical student. 

I forged new bonds with classmates, and have had unforgettable experiences in Manhattan. I have become comfortable in dealing with patients who are difficult in ways that I could not previously imagine, and seen firsthand the ills of the uninsured millions in America. I try to learn from every patient I see, and it has been immensely rewarding as my skills have improved and my knowledge grown. 

Over the past 6 weeks, I have been away from Newark due to my elective rotation and Christmas break. As my move back approaches, I have found myself thinking something I would never have guessed possible: I miss New Jersey.

- Chris MacCausland, MSIII

Maine is beautiful, serene, and a great place to live. However, being from NYC, my heart has led me back to the hustle and bustle of "The City That Never Sleeps" for my fourth year showcase rotations. As many would expect, the great diversity of such a large city provides a plethora of experiences for whatever educational arena you thrive in best. I've spent most of my fourth year thus far bouncing around to some of the best hospitals in New York. In doing so, I've gotten a wide range of exposure to many different educational and administrative systems. Here is a small taste of what one may experience...

Winthrop University Hospital - A suburban hospital located in Mineola, Long Island; this institution is affiliated with the StonyBrook University Medical School on Eastern Long Island. There are many students at any given time at this hospital from many Universities, and it happens to be very D.O.-friendly. I scheduled to do GI at this hospital while I was still considering a medicine residency. The GI fellowship at Winthrop is highly sought-after, and they usually take their own residents for the two positions. The service was very busy and rounds were lengthy at times, depending on the Attending scheduled for the week. The didactics at Winthrop for the medicine residents are wonderful, and guest speakers are scheduled regularly from research institutes and Ivy League Universities. The Medicine residents are quite happy and enjoy a rather relaxed work environment - very appetizing to any intern.

North Shore University Hospital - By far the best rotation experience I've had thus far. I chose a Sub-Internship in Medicine at North Shore, which happens to be the hub of a 15-hospital-network spread over 2 NYC Boroughs and Nassau County, Long Island, and it is the third largest not-for-profit hospital network in the country. The system also boasts a world-renowned Children's Hospital: Schneider's.

Medicine at North Shore is great, due to the fact that you have as much - or as little - autonomy as you prefer. Rounds with the attending have been one of the best educational experiences I've had, though I suppose, like all hospitals, it is very attending specific. Students are encouraged to interact with the attendings and families as the primary in-hospital caregiver. One has the opportunity to really learn the ins and outs of all aspects of patient care, not just the medicine. The didactics at North Shore are excellent, and lunch is provided every day, which is always a plus for the starving, poor medical student.

I also completed my ER selective at North Shore, which was the best experience as far as organization goes. North Shore is a Level One Trauma center, and it is the center of four or five major highways in Queens and Long Island, thus you can imagine the amount of traffic the ER sees in any given day. The residents are wonderful and encourage the students to participate in all the traumas and procedures of Emergency Patient Care. The didactics are set up so that students have workshops to learn X-Rays, EKGs, and Ultrasounds as well. Overall, a great experience for anyone interested in ER medicine. The entire ER is brand new with six different sections, which is nice, and the waiting room is subdivided with private rooms and flat-screen plasma TVs. Not too shabby!

Montefiore Medical Center – Bronx, New York. Not for the faint of heart. Montefiore is located in one of the busiest sections of the Bronx. I chose an Anesthesia elective at Montefiore and got my hands dirty right away. You are literally thrown to the wolves on day one, and are expected to be pro-active. No one is going to hold your hand at this institution. Montefiore is well known for “owning The Bronx,” so to speak. Although I did not rotate in the ER or medicine floors, the hospital is very busy and the residents work extremely hard.

In anesthesia, there are anywhere from 20-30 operations running at any given time, and experience is not lacking. There are always at least 4 peds, 2 neuro, and 2 cards rooms going per day. The residents are content with the program and the hours have improved over the last two years and will hopefully continue to improve. Didactics are very few in Anesthesia in this institution and self-study is a major part of the learning. Overall, I was able to do many IVs, intubations, and procedures. The best way to get your hands wet are to work with the attendings who teach, and also to shadow the third-year residents who know the most and are willing to pass the reigns to you - since they have completed all their requirements and are quite over the new excitement of doing intubations.

If anyone has questions about the hospitals or any of my experiences, I would be happy to discuss them with you. Thanks for your eyes and ears, and good luck in the years to come. Remember, always make the experiences fun - life is too short to take it too seriously!

- Michael Lamm, MSIV

 

Scottie McQuilkin, MSIII1/2, tests a Big Sky rope swing during a break from rotations. Photo courtesy Scott McQuilkin.

 

Hey gang,

So here I sit in Albuquerque, finishing up Tox at UNM while frantically trying to find housing for my next rotation in Los Angeles (ED Ultrasound) in about 10 days, laughing at how this has been anything but a smooth and uneventful year. I've been planning this trip since the end of our MSI status back in "the Biddo," and it has, for the most part, worked out really well... but it did not start off that way.

If you had not heard, last year was a rough one for me and my stuff. It included the mortal demise of my dearest mountain bike (a moment of silence, please); my computer crashing (hasta la vista PC); losing my PDA (ARG!); and having some rather catastrophic mechanical failures within the Jetta - which, believe it or not, were completely unrelated to the vegetable oil system or the performance, um, "adjustments."

Those difficult times necessitated tapping out any wiggle room that I had financial aid-wise, with both a full engine AND transmission swap, which left me without my precious BIOVW for over six agonizing months (and I must state that I owe Rocki K. my first-born for his wrenching assistance during those trying times... actually, you can have all of them!). After begging, borrowing, stealing, and riding my townie bike all over the green Earth, we finally got BIOVW all bolted back together and sufficiently tested with only a week to spare before my travels began.

With the tranny offering nearly 65 mpg (!) after some further "adjustments," I tore across the country to Seattle in just over three days to attend a national EM conference (ACEP, at which I ran into MSIVs Pete Tilney and Regan Brockmeyer) and begin a two-week Ophtho stint at "U-dub," the University of Washington. While the rotation was less than stellar, and a difficult clinical start to the year, spending time in the surrounding old growth forests of Rainier was spectacular! Nothing much can beat those days of moist and flowy single-track, fascinating new birds and animals, cold microbrews awaiting in the glacial runoff, and camping amongst 500+ year old Douglas firs. Divine.

I then shot through Yakima en route to Salt Lake with a night of sleeping under the stars in the mountains of Southern Idaho, being awakened soaked to the bone and colder than a witch's... toe... covered in a few inches of damp snow. Silly me. I rotated through the University of Utah for the next month on an ID sub-I, which was absolutely amazing, and not only because the medical center is built on the slopes of the mighty Wasatch. The medical community was welcoming, kind and very educational, as it is a true academic tertiary referral center, complete with all of the lines of "little duckling hordes" comprising the many and diverse medical-teaching teams waddling around everywhere.

It was a heartening experience, aside from there being absolutely no snow up high (gasp, I know!). But please don't worry, as the biking was fantastic - although brutally hilly - since the Wasatch are a fairly 'new' range in the scheme of things (steep and sharp). I took some trips up into the peaks' canyons (under 30-minutes from the medical center!) hoping to find some early season stashes, but alas, ended up only hiking and biking. Poor, poor me.

Next was the medical rotation of my educational career... which my >$300k debt-load can attest to is saying a lot! I took a long route to Montana, through Denver to visit a friend just returning from a year-long physician locums job in New Zealand, and was greeted with a 24" dump of medium-moisture powder just above the Front Range... promising. I then attended the Big Sky Medical Clinic month-long Ortho/Urgent Care rotation, which I had applied to over two years ago (yes, folks, the wait-list is two years out... so all of you first- and second-years get on it!).

The skinny of this gig was working every day for an entire month but being cut loose *daily* for a few turns when the precepting doc thought it appropriate. I lived like a sardine with five other students (one of whom was an OMM fellow from Kirksville!), harkening back to my ski patrol days, but my-oh-my was it worth it! The traumatic orthopedic injuries were to be expected, but the in-house stabilization, packaging and follow-up were a pleasant surprise. As can be imagined, a remote mountain town, even one as affluent as Big Sky, has to fend for its community independently, and being part of that was rather rewarding. Needless to say, too, the snow was deep, fell regularly, and was as light as I had hoped the "champagne powder" would be - and I indulged... gluttonously.

Again on the road and burning "the bean" (biodiesel and veggie oil), I blew down the Eastern Rockies - of course with a jaunt to Taos to sample the delicate delights of its recent, hefty coverage - to my next externship (Tox in the NM Poison Control Center) in "Albuquirky". It's been a great stay as I'm learning a lot about the multi-cultural toxicological issues of a poorer state comprised of a wealth of different
populations. I've also been networking within the EM residency here (my ulterior motive throughout the trip), and have even attended a field trip to the state Rattlesnake Museum (no joke!) with some of the EM program's interns and Toxicology medical director.

It's been unseasonably cold - which has been fantastic for me – but is to the chagrin of the locals who are falling like black flies doused in liquid nitrogen... the agony! I've enjoyed my time here very much, aside from the severe environmental allergies that always haunt me in the SW deserts (either that, or I picked up TB and strongyloides in Utah... hack, hack), but am excited to hit the road again and head towards the Pacific.

So, before my return in July - as I will be coming back for the fellowship with Jeremy Wren again, and joining forces with Meghan Grant and Don Tower for anatomy - I'm off to UC-Irvine for Ultrasound; Pitt for Critical Care; St. Luke's, Pennsylvania for Trauma; and then two EM sub-I's at Baystate and Geisinger. For all of you students in the throes of didactics in your first two years, don't go too nuts, but it may be in your best interest to start thinking about your fourth-year plans, as there will be ample flexibility to sculpt an adventurous year during your residency application period and afterwards. It's been a hoot, but in retrospect I sincerely wish that I had expended more time and energy on pre-rounding in the mornings, second rounds after hours, and literature reviews on the weekends, but I am only one man... and yeah, I'll get right on that.

Anyways, keep your fingers crossed that all things mechanical retain tight tolerances, remain well lubricated, and rotate smoothly... words to live by. And a big, fat congrats to all of my 2008 sisters and brothers who are graduating this year and soon will be finding out where the heck they'll be planting roots for the next few years. Well done: You're inches from a meager, but steady, income... horay!!! Take care, peace and tranquility.

- Scott McQuilkin, MSIII1/2

Scottie McQuilkin's buried Jetta.

 

CORE Questions for Southern Maine [Jef Groesbeck, MSIII]:

1.) Number of UNECOM students there? 
 
There are two third-year students doing internal medicine, one doing OB/GYN, one doing FP, one doing psychiatry, and usually a few doing OMM. There are variable amounts of fourth year students as well. 
  
2.) Total number of medical students at the site, i.e. UNECOM and other schools combined?
 
I don’t know exact numbers, but a lot. There are a good number of students from UVM, and then both DO and MD students from all over doing any number of rotations as well. 
  
3.) What is your impression of the housing? Is housing provided on-site? 
 
No housing provided
 
4.) What is the call schedule like on different services?
 
I have done call with psychiatry and internal medicine at MMC. I am on call every 4 nights, and am expected to do weekends as well. Weekday call ends at 9 pm, weekend call is from 7 am to 10 pm. 
  
5.) Is PEDS in-patient or out-patient? 
 
Peds is outpatient. 
  
6.) Are any of your rotations off-site, i.e. do you have to travel? If so, how frequent and how far?
 
Most of my rotations have been at Mercy and MMC in Portland. There are other rotations in Biddeford, Sanford, Lewiston, etc… all over the area. The amount of travels varies by which track you choose. 
  
7.) What has been your most rewarding rotation so far?
 
I’ve really enjoyed the 3 rotations I’ve done so far, but if I had to pick one it would probably be surgery. Surgery with Dr. Russell at Mercy was great. He knows how to teach and enjoys doing it. With no surgery residents around I was scrubbing in on just about every case. On slow days I was able to scrub in with orthopedics (and getting to do some drilling, chiseling, screwdriving, etc...) and neurosurgery as well. The only major thing I didn't really see was trauma surgery. I also had some time in the office with Dr. Russell and his partner, Dr. Rogers, endoscopy, colonoscopy, ER consults... So basically seeing a lot and being taught directly by two D.O. surgeons who are amazing at what they do and enjoy teaching.
  
8.) Are there many residents at your site? Does this impact your opportunity to perform various procedures?
 
There are a lot of residents at MMC. I can’t say I’ve done too many procedures, but I don’t know that this is because there were residents in line before me.
 
There are no surgery residents at Mercy, so I was able to scrub in and be at the surgeon’s side for just about every case. That was a huge benefit and I learned a ton everyday because of that.
  
9.) Location and quality of life, i.e. things to do when you're not doing the medical student “thing.”
 
My family and I are in Biddeford, so we stayed there this year. The drive to Portland is not bad at all. So quality of life is about like it was during the first two years at UNE. 
  
10.) Any other comments/relevant items to note?
 
I’ve been really happy with the education I’ve received. I’m happy to answer questions anybody might have regarding rotations here.

 

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