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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cWe started relatively small,\u201d Fields said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to be too ambitious with a brand new project. We obviously wanted to make sure this would work for the school system and that it was what they were hoping for. We wanted to make sure that our medical students enjoyed the program because we wanted them to be very interactive and engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It might seem like a presentation like SPOTS would be long and tedious, but a very interactive PowerPoint presentation with engaged presenters means students love it. Fields said one even asked her if they would return the next week to teach more. The medical students covered the ABCDEs of detecting skin cancer and the ways to mitigate risk, and they let students use a skin analyzer machine to test each other\u2019s skin. Fields said they primarily try to emphasize the beauty of natural skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s such a positive message that we\u2019re sending to children at this age, to [boost] their self-esteem,\u201d Fields said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to give in to peer pressure. If everybody around you is tan, you can say, \u2018You know what? It\u2019s great; my skin\u2019s beautiful, and I\u2019m not changing a thing about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The schools in Bowling Green have been very receptive to SPOTS, and Fields and her volunteers are wanted in every school. Eventually, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine would like its SPOTS chapter to grow to that size, but small steps are necessary for both the planning and the recruiting of volunteers. There are currently 25 trained medical students involved, but the big challenge in getting more is the student\u2019s schedules. For third-year students, finding times within the school day when they can help is especially hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re either in a clinic or in a hospital, so it\u2019s mostly first and second-year students who are delivering this,\u201d Fields said. \u201cI think as the program continues to grow, we\u2019ll probably be able to incorporate some fourth-year students as well because their schedules have a lot more flexibility once they get to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, the presentations are given to gifted and talented elementary school students, who are more likely to have an interest in STEM courses and medicine. As the program is able to expand, however, Fields said they would love to see it reach every elementary student in Bowling Green. After all, skin cancer is a risk for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her biggest hope is that those children will have a much lower risk of developing skin cancer if they have the information they need \u2014 information Fields said she did not have when she was younger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI definitely wish I would have made different choices, and I wish I would have had students like this coming into my school and telling me, \u2018Don\u2019t go to the tanning bed,\u2019 because I did. I did a lot when I was in high school,\u201d Fields said. \u201cIf you know and understand the purpose of sun-protective methods, you can significantly decrease your incidence of having skin cancer in the future. I really hope that we\u2019re going to be making a difference and potentially seeing those rates drop for our young adults.\u201d GN <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SKIN CANCER is one of the most common forms of cancer, especially in young adults. In the past few decades, the diagnosis rates for skin cancer have increased significantly. Combatting this trend can start young, as the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Bowling Green Campus has proven with its new Sun Protection Outreach Teaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":21977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/bowling-green\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/04\/2-2-1024x683.png\")
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