Expanding cancer educational opportunities

At its recent meetings in February, the Ville Platte Rotary Club heard from interim chancellor of LSUE Dr. William Crowe and from advancement coordinator at Miles Perret Cancer Services Paula Hidalgo.
Dr. Crowe commented LSUE is vibrant and has a lot of opportunities to offer students from the tri-parish area. He credited former chancellor Dr. Kimberly Russell for her efforts in making the institution what it is today.
“The most recent thing we did,” said Dr. Crowe, “was open our surgical tech and nursing programs with Lafayette General. We’re teaching nursing and surgical tech courses in one of their facilities in Lafayette.”
He continued, “All of the health care operations in the region are partners with us because our students need space for clinical practice and for getting hands on practical experience to hit the hospital wards working right away when they graduate.”
Dr. Crowe then touched on the enrollment figures and commented most of the students at LSUE come from Evangeline Parish. That is a result of the recently instituted dual enrollment programs at public high schools in the parish.
“The number of students we serve in dual credit where students are getting college credit while still in high school has really grown,” he said. “That’s a great opportunity for young people to get some of their college work out of the way before they go off to wherever they are going to go on a bigger campus.”
He added, “We’re going to have our first graduate this spring who will graduate with her high school diploma and a two-year diploma from LSUE at the same time. She wants to go to vet school at LSU, and we’ll be working to get her right into vet school. So, she’ll go straight from high school into vet school if we can get her admitted.”
Dr. Crowe then shared how LSUE is looking to better serve the tri-parish area. “We want LSUE to be your university,” he expressed. “With outreach we want to do more to meet the other educational needs of our region like if you want to learn about flower arranging or painting or Scotch tasting. There are a lot of things, I think, we could do that are unique and really be cool for this region and for the institution.”
The interim chancellor will be around campus until a permanent chancellor is named in July. But, during his time left in Eunice, Dr. Crowe wants to continue his school’s growth.
He concluded, “I had been speaking and bumping into folks, and I’m amazed how many people either went to LSUE or had children who went to LSUE. We want to continue that and want to be embedded in your community and make you feel like you can ask us to do anything. We’re all in.”
A week later, the Rotary Club heard from Paula Hidalgo, advancement coordinator for Miles Perret Cancer Services in Lafayette.
Hidalgo explained, “We are a non-profit organization that provides non-medical support services and programs to help individuals feel as good as they possibly can while undergoing cancer treatments.”
The cancer center, according to Hidalgo, was founded in 2002 after Hank and Debbie Perret’s son Miles was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
“After his passing,” said Hidalgo, “Hank and Debbie worked in the local community to help raise awareness. They realized they had a very strong support system that stepped in to help them while Miles was undergoing cancer treatments. The more they were out and about they realized there were a lot of people with no place to turn to. It became very important for Hank and Debbie that people have a support system.”
Since the cancer center opened in 2002, it has served over 16,000 families in the 10-parish coverage area. The services provided during that time period include mastectomy supplies, generic side effect medication, nutritional supplements, transportation assistance cards, and nutritional guidance.
Hidalgo then went over how the center is serving people locally in Evangeline Parish. “We currently have 164 active cases of cancer diagnosis that we are helping in Evangeline Parish at this time,” she said. “Once a month, we go to Evangeline Family Medicine Clinic here in Ville Platte. We also help residents at Savoy Medical Center in Mamou, Oncologics and OGH Cancer Center in Opelousas, and in Eunice.”
All of the funding, as Hidalgo explained, comes from fundraising efforts across the 10-parish area that is served by the cancer center. She said, “We raise about $1.5 million a year to provide our services free of charge.”
The funding comes from several events over the year such as Games of Acadiana and Change for Miles.
This year, the Sacred Heart Interact Club is partnering with the cancer center for Change for Miles. Hidalgo said the program has brought in $740,700.00 since 2008.
“You’d be surprised what we find in the little bottles,” she commented. “We kind of have a contest for the grossest thing we find. Last year it was a canine tooth. We have found diamond wedding rings, foreign coins, Chuckie Cheese and Kart Ranch tokens, bobby pins, nuts and bolts, and screws.”
She continued, “What a lot of people do when they have a change cup is scoop up the change and put it in the plastic bottle. They pour it in and don’t realize they also did their tooth fairy duties and have thrown their kid’s teeth in there.”
Hidalgo concluded by sharing how grateful cancer patients are for the help received from Miles Perret Cancer Services.