Dr. Mark D. Widome encourages learning by doing. Darrell E. Peterson--Creative Visual Resources, Hershey Medical Center

For more than 25 years, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center's Dr. Mark D. Widome has provided medical care for children and has educated future doctors. He is the author of handbooks for parents; he is frequently quoted in magazines; and he has become a regular contributor to NBC's "Today" show--dispensing advice on everything from preventing childhood injuries to infant nutrition to teen drivers. He also has testified on consumer product safety regulations on numerous occasions before committees and subcommittees of the U.S. Congress. This year, the College of Medicine honored him with a Distinguished Educator Award and membership in its Society of Master Educators. He spoke with Penn State Outreach about his scholarly activities.

Q: How did you feel about receiving the College of Medicine's Distinguished Educator Award?

Widome: I am delighted to be recognized for my teaching efforts. It's rewarding to teach medical students and pediatric residents. Our students learn by doing, by seeing patients side-by-side with faculty. Most of our teaching takes place in an outpatient setting, at the bedside and in the nursery.

Q: What is the primary focus of your outreach?

Widome: My colleagues and I teach people who will go out into the community and be pediatricians and other medical specialists. In addition, I give the best advice I can to parents as a magazine columnist for Family Safety and Health magazine and other publications, and as a consultant to Parents magazine. For the last six years, I've had the extraordinary opportunity to talk to millions of people about children's health issues on the "Today" show.

Q: What are the most pressing children's health issues today?

Widome: Television, movies, videogames and computers are having a major influence on young peoples' outlook today. Many are spending more time in front of the TV than in the classroom. Screen time also is taking the place of physical exercise for many children and contributing significantly to childhood obesity. Another pressing issue is the lifestyles of preteens and teenagers, many of whom are growing up too quickly. Parents are concerned about tobacco, alcohol and drug use, as well as sexual issues, and they are turning to their children's pediatricians for help in talking with their kids about these topics.

Q: Are you ever surprised by parents' questions?

Widome: You would think a pediatrician has heard just about every question about children, but a week doesn't go by that I don't hear a new question. I've been asked, for example: How old does my child have to be to ride a rollercoaster? Questions from parents and medical students help keep us current and force us to rethink things all the time.

New York City police working at Ground Zero line up for free health screenings. John Biondo--Creative Visual Resources, Hershey Medical Center

It took first responders several weeks to recover victims of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Then they spent several more months cleaning up the site. Now, they are coping with the health effects resulting from their heartrending work at Ground Zero.

"We think of police officers as being in physical danger from bullets and other kinds of violence, not from inhaling toxins," said Dr. Rebecca Bascom, professor of medicine at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. "With the threat of terrorism, we now have to worry about the lung and cardiovascular health of first responders."

Bascom and a team from the Penn State College of Medicine are working with the Living Heart Foundation to analyze heart and lung screening test results of more than 1,760 rescue and relief workers. Volunteer medical personnel from the foundation conducted the screenings--administering electro- and echocardiograms, checking blood pressure and testing blood cholesterol. Dr. Robert Gillio, a Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center physician, trained screeners and provided pulmonary function screening for rescue workers. With guidance from Bascom and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Paul Enright, Gillio also created an exposure and health history questionnaire to accompany the clinical tests.

A College of Medicine team is evaluating health data: from left, Rosanne Pogash, Dr. Zhengmin Qian, Dr. Robert Gillio, Dr. Larisa Buyantseva, and Dr. Rebecca Bascom. John Biondo--Creative Visual Resources, Hershey Medical Center

The Results
Living Heart Foundation President and Chairman Dr. Arthur J. Roberts noted, "The major problems we saw were mental stress, exhaustion, breathing difficulties, hypertension and [manifestations of coronary artery disease]." Roberts added that follow-up studies showed that mental stress and breathing difficulties persist, but more cardiovascular research is needed to determine long-term complications.

Bascom and team members are looking for trends and information that will better prepare the medical community to respond to future disasters. One promising area is the possibility of using the data to develop a risk score for inhalation injuries, similar to the burn score (1st, 2nd, 3rd degree), Bascom said. Doctors use the burn score to quickly assess tissue damage, deliver appropriate treatment and determine prognosis. An inhalation risk score (high, medium, low) could lead to a more precise diagnosis and treatment plan, as well.

Team members have presented the results of their data analysis at a conference in New York, and a narrative about the experience is now in the book "Lessons Learned at Ground Zero," written by Gillio and published by iUniverse. The book has been used by social studies teachers, the U.S. Army War College and others.