4
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2005
SHORTAGES
FROM PAGE 1
ate to the enrollment increase that
we hope will take place at the den
tal school,” he said of the loan. “We
hope we can attract more students
from disadvantaged backgrounds
and hopefully encourage them to
live and work in those areas.”
Dr. Ken May, associate dean for
administration at the school, said
the dentists who die, retire or move
out of state each year are not being
replaced by the number of gradu
ates entering the field. But he said
the problem is also one of distribu
tion, with rural areas being less able
to attract young professionals.
“Just increasing the numbers is
not going to address the access to
care issue,” he said. “That’s why we
need more programs like debt for
giveness. We need some more incen
tives to get them to those areas.”
The school is in the initial plan
ning stages of anew $lO4 million
building, he said, adding that the
legislature approved $2 million
this session to proceed.
He said discussions of a possi
ble dental school at East Carolina
University are premature.
“Right now we think we can help
address these issues by working with
East Carolina by having community
outreach programs,” he said.
Luten said that while he doesn’t
know if there is need for another
school at ECU, the need to educate
more dentists is real.
“I do know we desperately need
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more dentists in this state,” he said.
“I do believe that we need and are
looking at increasing the number
of students attending UNC.”
May said that getting students
into UNC-CH isn’t all the University
does to address the shortage.
Recruiters go to schools across
the state, as well as in Georgia and
Virginia, providing information
about the dentistry profession.
“We’d like them to come here,”
he said. “But if they went some
where else, that’s still putting folks
into the work force.”
At the School of Nursing, the
question is not one of attracting stu
dents, as the school is at capacity.
Linda Lacey, associate director
of research at the N.C. Center for
Nursing, said the problem is a state
wide one, with nursing programs
turning away applicants every year.
“What we’re facing is a bottle
neck in our education system that
doesn’t allow us to produce the
number of nurses we need to meet
the growing demand,” she said.
Still, Lacey said the state is doing
well as far as its number of nurses.
The problem lies in the future, with
baby-boomers retiring.
“North Carolina is in better shape
than a lot of other states,” she said.
“However, we do know that over the
next ten years that will change, and
it’s likely to change very quickly.”
The Center for Nursing predicts
the state will face a shortage of
18,000 nurses by 2020.
While the nursing shortage is a
problem that could be pre-empted
From Page One
with the appropriate funding, the
shortage of pharmacists in North
Carolina is an immediate concern.
A 2002 report by the Cecil G.
Sheps Center for Health Services
Research stated that the pharma
cist supply did not keep pace with
population growth during the past
decade in 45 N.C. counties.
“The educational community has
attempted to recognize the shortage
and has tried to increase the number
of graduates,” said Fred Eckel, execu
tive director of the N.C. Association
of Pharmacists. “But that pipeline
takes four years to complete.”
Robert Blouin, dean of the UNC
CH School of Pharmacy, said the
school increased its enrollment by 18
percent last year both on campus and
through anew joint program with
Elizabeth City State University.
Students in the satellite program
at ECSU receive instruction from
UNC-CH faculty both face-to-face
and through teleconferencing.
“When you look at the number
of applicants for our program, it
far exceeds the number of seats we
have available,” Blouin said.
He added that the school will
consider ways to continue increas
ing enrollment while working with
the Area Health Education Centers
across the state to ensure that stu
dents in their final year can do
clinical training at quality sites.
“We’re not the only school of
pharmacy in the state,” he said,
adding that the other two are pri
vate. “I think as a public university
we have an obligation to provide
the manpower for the state.”
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Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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BOWLES
FROM PAGE 1
ty and students.. “I also will take the
time to meet with our elected leaders
from both sides of the aisle.”
Dealing with legislators is a skill
that many expect will come easily for
Bowles, given his political past.
Bowles was appointed to director
of the Small Business Administration
by President Clinton in 1993.
From 1994-95 he served as
deputy White House chief of staff
and from 1996-98 as White House
chief of staff, receiving praise for
his work in budget negotiations.
He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S.
Senate in 2002 and 2004, and now
serves on three company boards.
Bowles was offered the position of
system President in 1997but did not
consider it because of his appoint
ment at the White House.
“In lots of strange ways I really
believe like I have been preparing
for this job my whole life,” he said.
The issues that Bowles will see
during his tenure as the system’s
fourth president will be a mixed
bag including contentious issues
like tuition autonomy.
The South’s increasing role in
U.S. higher education is another
issue that Broad said will further
challenge the system.
“The focus on the South and its
role in carrying on the nation’s high
er education and creating jobs of the
future is a very important priority for
the next president because it is abso
lutely essential for the future of the
University of North Carolina. 11
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
LEECHES
FROM PAGE 1
Hirudo medicinalis, a species
native to the freshwater lakes and
streams of Europe, is the only one
of the 650 species of leeches found
around the world that is approved
for medicinal use. The creature’s
saliva secretes an anesthetic into
the mammal’s skin, as well as an
anti-coagulant that prevents blood
from clotting.
But the real reason the critter
is so in demand is for its vasodi
lator, hirudin, the most powerful
blood thinner known to man, says
Michael Zenn, a microsurgeon at
Duke University.
Zenn has used leeches for 15
years and says there are companies
trying to mass-produce the chemi
cal found naturally in the medici
nal leech. For now, Zenn has easy
access to the critters Duke’s
pharmacy keeps them in stock in
case of emergency.
And should he need more,
tanks of the species are found at
Burlington’s Carolina Biological
Supply, one of the two leech dis
tributors in the United States.
The parasites are farm-raised
by the Wales-based company,
Biopharm International, and then
shipped to Burlington.
Lisa Darmo, a biologist with
Carolina Biological Supply, says
they sell tens of thousands of
the leeches every year, and the
demand is increasing as the prac
tice becomes more accepted in the
science community.
But Darmo says that as a biolo
gist, she doesn’t get squeamish
handling the leeches, especially
since they are kept in clean, fil
tered water.
“There are worse things to han
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die —we raise maggots.”
Hultman says he once had
to leech the inside of someone’s
mouth the patient was sedated,
he’s quick to add.
Zenn once leeched a 10-year-old
girl’s reattached finger, and while
they watched cartoons as a distrac
tion, the leech crawled out of the
cast and up her arm.
“They just want blood yp U
have to keep an eye on them,” he
says. “I have to remember some
times that most patients are kind
of freaked out by it.”
But at eight dollars a pop, the
parasites are a bargain.
Fifty leeches would cost about
SSOO, including shipping, as
opposed to $50,000 or SIOO,OOO
for a reconstructive surgery, says
Hultman.
“It’s a miracle. It’s cheaper than
aspirin or Tylenol,” he says.
But that could change if the
slimy suckers become even more
commonplace. With FDA approval
comes the possibility of more regu
lation, paperwork, training and
more general bureaucracy, he says.
The last time Hultman did, a
leeching was in April, and he says
there’s no telling when the next
procedure will be.
When it happens, he will order
up to 50 leeches the patient can
go through 20 in one sitting. The
leeches, bloated from their l&t
supper, will fall off within minutes
before being disposed of as medi
cal waste.
But Hultman says he hasn’t got
ten any negative feedback from
animal or parasite rights
groups like PETA.
“They die happy,” he says.
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.