World Health Day comes to UHCL

World Health Day is an annual global health awareness initiative that is celebrated on April 7. This year the UHCL celebrated its first World Health Day event on campus in the Bayou Building’s Atrium II. Samar Farooqui, a business management major and president and founder of the American Dental Society student organization organized the event.

Farooqui said that the motivation behind planning a World Health Day event on campus was to include all the health organizations at the university under one umbrella to share resources, volunteer needs and efforts with the campus community.

“Ultimately, I want to become a dentist,” Farooqui said. “It is a great field. I am a very outgoing person, and helping people getting better teeth and smiles would be wonderful!   I also love how being in the dental field allows me to focus on the physical mouth, and through x-rays and technology everything is visible. I also would love to do international mission work in Third World countries.”

The events’ subjects included: depression awareness, medicine tips for traveling abroad, nutrition and diabetes, oral hygiene health, care for caretakers of patients, and pharmacy/drug design.

Guest speakers from UHCL, as well as community professionals from various areas of the health and medical field, came together to support and bring awareness to the importance of personal, physical and mental health of our communities at large.

Carolina Jimenez, outreach coordinator of counseling services, shared her story of depression and applauded the staff and students on campus for the overwhelming level of support. While pursuing her internship for residency, Jimenez’s father died of cancer and she immediately fell into a depression.

“It gets better with time,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez’s father died five years ago, and she did not choose medication for relief; rather she opted to use the tools she learned here at UHCL Counseling Services. Jimenez overcame her depression by joining group therapy and utilizing an ongoing support network of friends and family.

Dr. Charles Ericsson, director of the Travel Medicine Clinic and professor of infectious disease, spoke about the importance of having an extra supply of medicine and immunizations when traveling abroad.

“We like doing this so that we can get the word out,” Ericsson said.

Ericsson said his philosophy that prevention and education are essential to overall wellness is key in keeping his patients healthy at home and while traveling.

Danielle McFeron is a registered clinical dietician and a UHCL alumna.   McFeron stressed the importance of reducing the risks of diabetes. In America, 86 million adults have prediabetes.

“Before people develop Type 2 diabetes they almost always have ‘prediabetes’,” McFeron said. “Prediabetes is blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.”

McFeron recommends that focusing on a healthy weight, making healthy food choices and staying active greatly reduces the risk of prediabetes.

Luz Pena, a dual cancer survivor, is the president of Cancer Awareness and Survivorship Support at MD Anderson.

Pena has personally battled and won the fight against Breast and Ovarian Cancer. She shared that being a caregiver and a patient has given her the unique opportunity to observe the disease from both sides.

“[As a patient,] independence is what I missed the most,” Pena said. “And the suffering that we endure and observe through taking care of our loved ones, or even our patients, is something that we never quite adapt to because we feel so powerless.”

Pena pointed out that caregivers must remain strong for others and it can be a draining experience. Some of the symptoms that caregivers experience include burnout, depression, social isolation, self-neglect and physical decline.

“There are many ways to support the caregivers in our families and communities,” Pena said. “We can prepare extra portions of our dinners and lunches and deliver them to our friend and families who are caring for someone who is suffering.”

Anton Dubrovisky, assistant professor of Organic Chemistry at UHCL, shared the “fundamental aspects of drug design and drug action, utilizing an example of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).”

Dubrovisky queried the audience about the origin of ibuprofen, its benefits and its side effects.

“Students at UHCL have opportunities to join this quest for better NSAIDs,” Dubrovisky said. “I encourage all science major students to work on a research project in their junior and senior year, it is well worth it. The impact that an undergraduate research project can have on a student’s career is much greater than most of us imagine as undergrads.”

Farooqui said UHCL is a great institution to earn a post-secondary degree because students are given the opportunity to explore a variety of opportunities that ultimately benefit their professional careers and personal character.

“Getting involved with student organizations was a great way for me to find myself and find my passion for the health field,” Farooqui said.