The University of Akron

Pictured left: Associate Professor Parizad Dejbord created and teaches the medical Spanish course. Pictured right: UA student Rachel Neugebauer (right) works in a botica, a pharmacy, in the Dominican Republic. Intern applies lessons learned to Dominican Republic botica New courses aim to bridge gap between Hispanic patients and healthcare providers Most people wouldn't delight in listening to strangers complain – day after day, in graphic detail – about personal health issues, but Rachel Neugebauer, 20, is a bit different. She finds it thrilling. The UA junior, who is double majoring in biochemistry and Spanish, spent part of this past summer as a pharmacy intern in the Dominican Republic. And, thanks to a new course offered by UA's Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences — a course that's gaining the attention of area health care providers — Rachel not only understood the woes brought into the botica (pharmacy) by her Spanish-speaking customers, she knew the names of the medicinas used to treat them. Rachel credits an entirely different sort of prescription written by another kind of doctor for helping her make the most of her internship. That powerful potion was Spanish Conversation for Health Care Professionals and First Responders, a course launched this past spring by UA's Dr. Parizad Dejbord, associate professor of modern languages. Matt Wyszynski, professor of modern languages, is teaching a companion course in medical Spanish composition this fall. Commencement speaker advises grads to have roots and wings Dr. Bisconti, UA associate professor of psychology, stands with two graduates of the class of '13 at Lowellville High School, her alma mater. She was the school's commencement speaker this June. 10 Dr. Toni Lynn Bisconti experienced "the greatest honor" of her life in June. No, she didn't meet the President or pick up a Nobel Prize for her research on death, aging and widowhood. Those things may come true someday for the UA associate professor of psychology, but they'll never top the thrill of being the commencement speaker at her high school alma mater: Lowellville High School. Although there are medical Spanish courses offered on CD and the Internet, few are offered on accredited university campuses – an environment that allows for close collaboration among students and professors. "This class provided me with a very firm grasp on medical Spanish, and carried me through my entire experience at the pharmacy," Rachel says. "It helped me to be a more productive worker and learner." These sorts of classes that help to bridge communication gaps are vital to the future of U.S. healthcare, according to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Visit www.rwjf.org for more information. Officials at Akron Children's Hospital, a highly honored regional pediatrics medical and research center, agree. The hospital is bringing the conversational medical Spanish class to its employees in January. Rachel hopes to extend her ties to UA by attending NEOMED, a consortium of hospitals and teaching centers (including UA) that has both a medical school and a College of Pharmacy. She wants to be a bilingual pharmacist and, of course, a world traveler. Lowellville High is a small, public school outside of Youngstown; when Bisconti graduated in 1991, the senior class had 24 students. Bisconti told this year's 50 graduating students to take advantage of their fresh start. "You're in a unique position to start anew," she told them before they accepted their diplomas. "You're in a unique position to redefine yourself." She told them, as a Japanese proverb goes, they can have both roots and wings. "Today, you get to decide how far you fly and how often you come home," she said. Bisconti returns to Lowellville often to visit family, attend Lowellville Rockets' football games and hang out with high school friends who still remember her as the smart one. "But we had a lot of fun, and I did OK for myself in the end," she says with a laugh. Indeed, she has. Bisconti earned both her master's and her doctoral degrees from the University of Notre Dame in 1997 and 2001, respectively. She then taught at the University of New Hampshire before coming to UA in 2006. She has written many articles for the top journals in her field.

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