A New Role for Junior Achievers

              TODAY'S NEWS TODAY—WITH TODAY'S PICTURES THE SHREVEPORT JOURNAL, SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER
A
New Role
For
Junior Achievers
Chuck Melancon of Lund Oxygen Co., man-agement
advisor and administrative assist-ant
for the JA program, explains the
equipment used in inhalation therapy as
two achievers listen attentively.
Helping to change the concept of Junior Achievement are
these students — participants in the local organization's
! pilot program—Inhalation Therapy. The program, marking
the expansion of JA into the area of public service, may
serve as a guide for other JA groups in the nation. By Merrilee Leatherman, Journal Staff Writer
I n h a l a t i o n therapy and Junior
Achievement somehow seem to be an
[unlikely combination.
They are not.
But the combination stands for a new
role in Junior Achievement.
WITH.THE introduction of inhalation
therapy as a pilot program on Nov. 1,
1971, Junior Achievement expanded its
companies to include one that provides a
service, rather than a physical product,
to the community.
The project may very well serve as a
guide for other JA organizations across
the country. As Normand R. Roy,
executive director of the local group,
says, "This is a brand new idea in the
concept of Junior Achievement. Prior to
this, JA has been an international
program in which high school students
learn about business and industry. The
local program is different from anything
else in the country."
"THE. IDEA," says Roy, "is to
provide JA programs where youngsters
can develop service-oriented, specialized
skills."
Roy says he began playing with the
idea some time ago. He sought a way to
utilize youngsters who were interested in
such things as science.
' I wanted to show that JA could be
instituted to provide a sound economic
education program in any specific area
of any field", explains Roy. "I also
wanted to prove that JA could expand
into any area of the economy — whether
institutionally oriented or otherwise."
ROY DISCUSSED the ideas with two
'ocal physicians—Dr. Norman Mauroner,
;director of the Shreveport Mental Health
Renter, and Dr. Ike Muslow, medical
iirector at Willis-Knighton Hospital.
"Both were interested", says Roy,
!"but the problem was exactly where to
put a JA Service Co. in the field of
medicine."
Dr. Muslow suggested that the inhala-tion
therapy department, one of the
safest areas in a hospital, would be the
logical place to introduce students to the
world of medicine.
"IT.SEEMS THAT new principles are
being applied in hospitals", Roy ex-plains.
" E s p e c i a l l y i n the area of
para-medicine, such as inhalation thera-py,
corporate groups are forming with
their main purpose being to aid the
professional people in that department."
'Because of the students' ages", he
adds, "it was imperative that responsi-bilities
assigned to the achievers be those
limiting patient contact; yet giving the
s t u d e n t s as much exposure to the
department and its equipment as possi-ble
in order to give them some education
in medicine and administration and,
possibly, encourage them in medical
careers."
DR. MAROUNER, acting as coordi-nating
advisor of the program, got the
ball rolling by opening doors to discus-sions
and, finally, into actual organiza-tion
of the achievers in training.
Students selected to participate in the
new JAMEDICO then began eight weeks
of intensive study in inhalation therapy.
AS VITAL AS it is, an expert
understanding of the principles and
methods of inhalation therapy is confined
to a relatively few of those responsible
for its use.
Says Chuck Melancon of Lund Oxygen
Co., assistant administrator and manage-ment
advisor for the program, "Most
hospitals have inhalation therapy depart-ments
that are less than five years old.
The field is wide open at present: there
is an acute shortage of skilled aides and
technicians in inhalation therapy depart-ments."
DURING THEIR EIGHT weeks of
training, the achievers spent one and a
half hours per week in lecture, testing,
or evaluation.
From Dr. Richard Kamm and Dr.
Mauroner, the students learned about the
lungs and air passages, anatomy, phy-siology,
pathology, pressures, volumes
and r e s p i r a t o r y deficiences. They
learned that inhalation therapy is em-ployed
primarily to restore adequate
function to organs impaired by lack of
oxygen due to such ailments as pneumo-nia,
emphysema, partial or complete
bronchial obstructions, heart disease,
bronchial asthma and pulmonary edema.
Miss Carol Cone, A.R.I.T. at Willis-
Knighton, along with Mrs. Z. M. Burms,
R.N., lectured on the application of
therapy and the understanding of equip-ment.
THE TWO WOMEN s h o w e d the
achievers the different approaches, tech-niques,
and volumes and percentages of
oxygen used to provide the red cells of
the body with the proper amount of
osygen. They also showed how inhalation
of gases can be used to change the
pressure existing with the lungs and
bronchi during inspiration or expiration,
to carry medicines in the form of vapors
to infected areas in bronchi or lungs, or
to relieve the spasm that produces
unmanageable cough. For any of the
special techniques, management of the
apparatus is at least as important as the
basic theory of its use.
Terry Milligan of Red Ball Oxygen
Co. and Melancon assisted Miss Cone
and Mrs. Burms by explaining the
function and mechanics of portable
equipment and hospital inhalation units
for IPPB treatments.
EACH ACHIEVER had to devote one
to four hours weekly to practice in
addition to the formal two hours in
meetings.
Finally, Miss Cone — who served as
t e c h n i c a l advisor — evaluated the
program and its results and decided the
s t u d e n t s were ready to serve as
inhalation therapist aides.
Roy emphasizes that ''the achievers
are not thoroughly trained inhalation
therapists. It is better to consider them
as inhalation therapist aides. As such,
they can perform a real function —
under strictest supervision — and better
than most because of the extensive
training they have received through
Junior Achievement."
ROY SAYS HOSPITALS in the area
now have the opportunity to place
youngsters who have something to offer
in a field where help is critically needed.
At present, those qualified are placed on
a round-robin rotation basis.
Roy estimates that a company of 21
achievers working four hours weekly
could generate 84 man hours in their
capacities as aides.
KEY. SELLING f e a t u r e s of the
program, he says, are that no account
maintenance is needed, no personnel
maintenance except by the department
head, and no withholding of Social
Security or State Income taxes because
Junior Achievement bills the hospital
directly instead of the achievers being on
the hospital payroll.
(The income of the JA Medical Co. is
determined by a contract similar to
Kelly Girl Services. The hospital is
required to pay a minimum contract
price of $1.60 per hour. Achievers are
paid $.75 per hour while on duty.)
The general public should be fully
aware that the company is not a legal
corporation but is an educational ven-ture.
Thus, the difference in the cost of
the services is due to the gratuitous
extension of the time and efforts by local
physicians; the unpaid efforts of quali-ifed
and competent advisor teams of
technicians; and, minaturized overhead
costs relating to any Junior Achievement
company in the nation.
ROY SAYS this results in a cutting of
accounting costs for the hospital and,
since achievers are low-cost labor in the
department, the therapists can concen-trate
on more difficult tasks. This allows
for a better return on the budget, says
Roy, while maintaining more people.
Roy says the program not only is
preparing students to take responsibility
in the inhalation therapy department but
also is preparing students for careers in
the medical field.
INHALATION THERAPY and learn-ing
about this specialized department for
the treatment of pulmonary problems is
only Phase I of the program, says Roy.
Phase II is in the planning stages. It will
include advance lectures in heart-lung
problems.
Long-range plans, he adds, hopefully
will enable the JA Medical Co. to sell
their services to those patients who need
someone to come to their homes and
show them how to utilize the equipment.
A DIRECT RESULT of the pilot
program, which ends its trial run on
April 30, is that an interest In medical
careers has been stimulated and already,
the achievers are being asked to fill in at
hospitals this summer.
"So far", says Roy, "the program has
been successful and is proving that it
provides a beneficial service for the
community."