Colleges receive money for medical purposes

New donations will help local students expand their practical and theoretical medical knowledge.

Western Nevada Community College received a $300 donation to go toward the purchase of an aspiration machine to revive patients with respiratory problems.

The University of Nevada School of Medicine received a $9.24 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study irregular heartbeats and other types of heart disease.

The Carson City Council of Beta Sigma Phi raffled off a stained glass lamp designed and created by member Donna Silva to raise the money to donate to the college.

Silva said the group had originally planned to set up a scholarship but learned from talking to the Allied Health program that an aspiration machine was needed.

"We decided that instead of giving a scholarship to help one student, we would donate the money so all of the students could benefit," Silva said.

Dean of the Allied Health Program Bus Scharmann said the college appreciates the donation.

"It's wonderful," he said. "We're so grateful for it."

He said the total cost of the respiration machine will be about $800 and expects to raise the rest of the money and purchase the machine within the next few months.

"It gives us a great start," Scharmann said.

The UNR grant is the second largest in the school's history, following the 10-year $9.4 million Women's Health Initiative grant given in 1993.

It will be used by university researchers Joseph R. Hume and Burton Hurowitz to study the role of ion transport proteins in heart disease in hopes of finding new treatments.

"Electrical activity of the heart is essential for coordinating its mechanical efficiency to pump blood," Hume said. "During a heart attack, part of the heart muscle dies and this alters the electrical activity it generates, possibly leading to the development of a life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia."

The grant will also provide funding to establish a Center of Biomedical Research that will investigate the role of chloride transport proteins in heart problems.

"Support from the National Institutes for Health for the establishment of the COBRE center at the University of Nevada is a clear recognition of the recent growth in stature and national competitiveness of Nevada as a biomedical research enterprise," said Joe Crowley, university president.