Valencia's Welcome Back BBQ

Valencia’s Welcome Back BBQ is a staple that marks the beginning of each new year at the college. This past Thursday, the West campus hosted the event with a turn out of more than 100 students.

As soon as Fall semester began, news of the event traveled around the campus. Some were warned of the impending frenzy and others just happened upon the scene, by chance.

“I was just about to get some lunch, then I heard some music and I figured they were doing something spectacular,” sophomore, Anthony Alicea said.

Student, Von Jennings heard of the BBQ through his Atlas email account and “I think one of the maintenance men told me about it last week,” he said.

SGA organizes Welcome Back Day, every year, but this time around Juliana Montoya is serving as president of the club. She help set the BBQ into motion.

As far as activities go, Premed student, Manvella Pope, had her silhouette drawn and quickly cut out by artist, Susan and also received a free sign plate from another of the vendors.

Along with the many booths encouraging students to register to vote and dishing out body art, there were also tables spreading the word on different clubs and organizations.

Pope said “I like that there are other groups here, like HERO for humans rights.”

For the upcoming Consitution Day, Valencia will have a treasure hunt, with a brand new Kindle as first place prize. The goal, here, is for students to become familiar with the West campus while learning more about the details of the U.S. Constitution, Montoya said.

Previously published in the Valencia Voice

What Constitutes Sanitation in Hospitals?

You would think that the most sanitary place on Earth would be in the center of a hospital. Recent studies show that millions of people, worldwide, are becoming ill from "healthcare associated infections."

Healthcare associated infections afflict thousands of patients, every year.

"HAI often leads to lenghtening hospitalization, increasing the likelihood of readmission, and adding sizably to the cost of care per patient," said Jeff Moskovitz in his Elder Care Blog.

These are illnesses that are developed within a hospital or healthcare facility. They are not previously accounted for.

HAIs are caused from the moment a patient walks into a hospital, to their treatment of another condition, until this new HAI is discovered and treated.

Healthcare associated infections can appear in an array of forms. They can appear in the form of an infection or as pneumonia.

Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) occurs when the mechanical ventilation given to patients is compromised.

CDCs National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System reported, in 2002, that patients receiving this method of oxygen provision had 6.21 times the risk of developing pneumonia.

Another type of an HAI is surgical site infection.

According to Kimberly-Clark Healthcare, "surgical site infections can result in up to $10 billion in treatment costs in the U.S. alone."

These specific infections can stem from surgical hypothermia, contamination of the incision area, bacteria cross contamination, and surgical instrument contamination.

Barbara Dunn, of HAIWatch News, said "hospitals still have work to do to put an end to the ongoing, but very solvable, problem of patients acquiring life-threatening infections in hospitals."

In order to prevent healthcare associated infections from occuring, proper hygiene must be accounted for and protective equipment such as gloves should be in use at all times. When disposable tools are used once and only once on each patient, germs and bacteria are also less likely to develop.

For more information, see HAIWatch.com for tips on prevention and more on the issue of healthcare associated infections.

[/edit] I will change this one up in the near future. [/edit]