Medical Technology fills need for expert diagnoses

This letter is in response to Sara Warzecka's Jan. 29 column about the Medical Technology program. Unfortunately, Ms. Warzecka is incorrect and misunderstands the Medical Technology program's impact on and importance in the community, and the career opportunities medical technologists are offered. She obviously did not do enough research on this program and degree to make such comments.

I am a 2001 graduate from the UA Medical Technology program, and I have never regretted taking this path. Not only did I complete my degree on a four-year track, I was married, had a mortgage and car payments and held down a part-time job. Ms. Warzecka would probably describe me as a "masochist" for my dedication to my future career. The Medical Technology program outlines a four-year track for any student that wants to graduate in that time period, and I used this plan to pursue a degree and certification as a medical technologist. Just before graduating, I applied for the College of Pharmacy here at the UA, and was accepted within a month of interviewing. However, I am not the only one. From the medical technology class before me, two students were accepted into the UA Medical School, and while most of my classmates went out into the field after graduation, they are happy in their job. In addition to myself, there is a fellow medical technologist at the UA College of Pharmacy and another completed her Ph.D. last year. There are many opportunities a graduating medical technologist can choose besides working in the traditional clinical laboratory, including infertility labs, forensic crime labs, technology companies, graduate programs, medical or pharmacy schools and even academia. Not only is a medical technologist trained and prepared with valuable medical knowledge, but they are also problem solvers.

Due to lack of publicity for this career, many are not truly aware of the impact that closing down the medical technology program will have on our community. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists all rely on accurate information and results that a medical technologist produces in a clinical laboratory. I'm sure that if it were you lying in a hospital bed and waiting for results so that the medical staff would treat you, you would want those results to be precise and timely. With the lack of medical technologists in the laboratory, many tests are being sent out because there is not enough staff to operate the labs. There are not enough graduating medical

technologists to take over positions that senior medical technologists are vacating and retiring from. We are also seeing this trend in nursing and pharmacy, but the difference is that instead of responding to the shortage, programs like the UA Medical Technology program are being shut down.

Unlike Ms. Warzecka, I am very serious about this issue; we are facing potential serious consequences if kids out of high school or even college, with no formal medical training, are performing stat blood-matching for blood transfusions or chemical profiles on the public. I would welcome any health professional, that dedicates him or herself to the workload and coursework a medical technologist student is faced with, to take care of my own mother. At least I know they are serious about the patient's care and well-being, and not about what kind of party undergraduate life they had.

Alicia Newkirk
pharmacy graduate student

Real tragedy at tracks is poor treatment of dogs

Yesterday, I was delighted to see an article with a headline advising readers not to go to Tucson Greyhound Park, only to be disturbed by the reasoning behind this message. Gabe Joselow starts by saying people stay away from the dog track because of the abuse to the dogs, then argues the people at the track are "victims of a far more unsettling kind of abuse." He continues to support this argument by attacking how the people at the track are dressed and also how ugly they are while not once discussing the horrific "work" conditions of the dogs except to say "Dogs are unpredictable. Behind their wagging tails and fluffy happy demeanor lies extreme unpredictability." Instead of making juvenile superficial judgments about the clientele, Joselow should stick to the facts, which are truly ugly. Every year, 20,000+ healthy greyhounds are killed in this "sport" in the U.S. because they are not fast enough. The dogs lucky enough to race are kept in small cages 20-22 hours per day with their muzzles removed only to eat raw, grade 4-D meat. Arizona is one of only 15 backwards states that allows dog racing. Arizona and Florida are by far the worst states, with the most documented abuse cases over the past 10 years including starvation/dehydration, electrocution, mutilation and abandonment. Arizona has far fewer dog tracks than Florida. Instead of betting on the dogs and seeking advice from people he would only take down later, Joselow should do some research on the real reasons there's no fun at the track.

Scott Barker
mechanical engineering senior

'Protect and serve' mission ignored by TPD

Another underage drinking forum has passed, and still everyone is confused. Does anyone know what the police plan to accomplish by their actions? Donald Wilson, in his response to yesterday's forum article, says that police provide an invaluable service to the community, and we college kids do not understand that. Obviously, we college students understand it enough to come together with the TPD to discuss problems in the UA community. I understand the great service the police department provides for us. What is their purpose? To protect and serve.

How do five police cars raiding an apartment complex protect me or anyone else? How do 20 police cars disrupting a restaurant bar and finding one underage drinker serve this community?

The Tucson police have created a stigma that they are out to get you instead of out to help you. The police raid a party, and I'm running like hell. I'm jumping in my car and driving drunk, instead of thinking rationally. I'm running down the street on Euclid and Grant where I will later be beat to with an inch of my life by three kids in a car. This is not safe. Dear policeperson: Break up the party and make sure everyone goes home safely. Drive them home if you have to (like I know they do at the U of Illinois). Understand that slapping handcuffs on me and writing me an underage drinking ticket does not protect me or serve others.

The police motive to raid and scare underage drinkers keeps changing. First it was to prevent violence and rape, and now it's to ally an annoyed community. Well, overall violence was the same in 2002 as in 2003. The number of forcible rapes of females was almost exactly the same. I do not know where this extra police force focus on underage drinking came from. Maybe they should focus on the 6,000 motor vehicle thefts or the 4,000 burglaries that occurred last year.

The problem is that some admit that underage drinking is not a substantial crime. TPD Lt. Mike Pryor basically says that after they fight underage drinking, then they can fight the "real crime." These police confuse me; please tell me what their purpose is. And one other thing: Protect and serve our community.

Grant Sahag
pre-business sophomore