UCR School of Medicine Well Represented at Riverside’s “Long Night”

From the Kids' Zone to the Undeading, medical students, staff and faculty contribute to region's premier cultural event

By Ross French

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.medschool.ucr.edu) — The UC Riverside School of Medicine was well represented at Thursday’s Long Night of Arts and Innovation in downtown Riverside.

In the Kids’ Zone at Riverside City Hall, Interim Dean Neal Schiller and about a dozen medical students visited with children and their parents, answered questions about medical school, demonstrated how stethoscopes work, and let the young ones try on white coats.

A short distance away, School of Medicine faculty members David Lo and Monica Carson made presentations on their research, as did Founding Dean G. Richard Olds, who will soon begin his appointment as president and chief executive officer at St. George’s University.

Meanwhile, the lobby of Senator Richard Roth’s office had been overrun by medical students made up to look like zombies as the school hosted “The Undeading,” which taught guests about hands-only CPR techniques. The program was inspired by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s promotional campaign of the same name.

“More than 100 guests learned about hands-only CPR, a life saving skill they are able to take home with them,” said Chris Miller, the director of operations for the UCR SOM Center for Medical Simulation and Research, and the brains behind the zombie-themed event. “All in all, the zombie physicians were well received by the general public attendees.”

In addition, guests could observe the first and second year students working with an electronic simulated patient on advanced cardiac life support techniques.

“These are skills that they generally wouldn’t have exposure to until their third year of medical school,” Miller said.

Miller was very complimentary of Senator Roth and his staff. “Senator Roth was very generous,” Miller said. “He spent time with the kids and they were excited to be able to visit with him. We really appreciate his generosity in letting us come into his space.

Student participants included:

Adam Basiago
Pooja Desai
Cathy Dong
Morenike Fanu
Jorge Garcia
Myra Hernandez
Mark Hilario
William Leon
Erin Liang
Rita Lis
Nahal Nikroo
Jose Orozco
Joshua Poole
Tim Vu
Ann Yufa

Staff and faculty participants included:

Sarah Blevins
Kendrick Davis
Dawn Demeritte
Amanda Lockhart
Wesley Lockhart
Jeff Swain

Mike Bersamin from Fun Corner in San Bernardino assisted with the make up while Jason Estala from UCR’s Theatre Arts department assisted with the costumes.