Multimedia Reporting (Noland-Volek)

Lawrence, Kan. – Business students graduating this fall and next spring will have new opportunities this year when searching for their career path for future jobs, and graduating senior Kim Rosen is banking on it.

Rosen, Lawrence senior in marketing, is one of approximately 1,200 KU students who will be attending the business career fair on Sept. 20. She and the other students will look at mare than 120 different companies from across the United States to help define their career paths.

“I went to the fair last year, which helped direct me to what jobs were out there,” Rosen said. “Now, since I’m graduating in December, I’m going to the fair with a good idea of who I want pursue for a job.”

Jennifer Jordan, director of business career services, said the companies are looking at more than just a good looking resume, dress and a degree when considering employment. She said companies that attend the fair look at factors such as compelling experience and internships. Other new opportunities, such as the business school’s new major, supply chain management (which will see its first graduates in spring 2009), will help some students with have more options when looking for the right employer.

“We take input from business students every year to determine a target list of employers,” Jordan said. “We want to represent a good cross-section of employers for almost all of our business graduates.”

Westar Energy is a company that sees a degree as the first foot in the door. Ruth Marstall, recruiter for Westar Energy, said that some of the first aspects she looks for are the student’s major, internships and programs they have participated in.

One program in particular that Marstall said is a good indicator for future employment is the Jayhawks on Wall Street Program. A group of selected business students visit Wall Street in New York City during the course of the program. The students have a high interest in investment banking and have the opportunity to meet contacts on Wall Street.

“That program incorporates exactly what we are looking for in employees here at the company,” Marstall said.

Marstall said Westar Energy is in growth mode, which is caused by more and more baby boomers retiring and causing more positions in almost all departments of the company to open up.

Westar Energy is planning the construction of a new power plant in Emporia, Marstall said. A new demand for a wider range of jobs is now present in the company.

“At the moment, with the new plant, engineering majors are going to be in high demand for Westar this year,” Marstall said.

Mimi Yang, field human resources manager for the Panda Restaurant Group, said that attending university career fairs is vital to seeking out qualified employees for the company. Yang’s company will open 150 to 170 new restaurants in the next year, including two more in the Kansas City, Mo., area.

More employees are needed to fill the jobs being created as the company grows, Yang said. Jobs in real estate, legal services and especially the position of restaurant general manager are becoming vital for her company. She said it is difficult to find individuals qualified for the general manager position even if he or she has a degree.

“As important as a degree is, it is more important to possess skills and characteristics such as being highly proactive, responsible, able to multi-task and stress management,” Yang said. “I mean, we are talking about a million-dollar business.”

Some fields in business, Yang said, are not as needed but very popular to encounter for the Panda Restaurant Group.

“We get a lot of interest from marketing-related students,” Yang said. “We feel, though, that the company can market itself if the product is good enough to have customers talking.”

Graduating business students are still not giving enough attention to some career paths, Jordan said, even though the companies offer employment opportunities on par, if not better, than the other companies at the career fair. Most of these companies are government and not-for-profit related.

Jordan said that these companies are very selective and their benefits and compensation packages sometimes rival most other companies.

“There seems to be preconceived notions about these kinds of jobs,” Jordan said. “They may not be as attractive as some other employers, but many students are missing out on one solid career path.”

The term “teen drivers” could soon have an entirely new meaning. Kansas House Transportation Committee will look at a new bill this coming legislative session that would increase restrictions on teenage drivers under 18.
The bill, SB 294, would increase the age to 15 to get an instruction permit, which requires a passenger 21 years old to be present while driving. After holding the permit for 12 months, a restricted license is attainable. The restricted license would limit teenagers under 18 to drive unsupervised between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. to and from school, work or a religious function, limit the number of non-immediate related passengers under 21 to one and prohibit the use of a wireless device while driving.
Maggie Thompson, spokesperson for Kansas Secretary of Transportation Deb Miller, said that main reason for Miller trying to push the bill again is the recent statistics showing Kansas having a significantly higher percentage, 48.7 percent, of teens dying in motor vehicle accidents as compared with the national average, 39 percent, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Center for Health and Environmental Statistics.
“It’s not that teens aren’t getting enough driving experience,” Thompson said. “They just do not have enough life experience to handle to responsibility of driving.”
Public response for the bill has been positive, she said. The new bill would not affect getting a farmer’s driving permit, which allows teenagers who are 14 to drive unsupervised while doing farm-related work. Previous attempts to pass a similar bill have failed in the past because of farmers’ negative reactions to attempting to restrict a farmer’s driving permit also. Parents have also been supportive of the bill.
“It gives parents a backbone to enforce the driving rules,” Thompson said.
Cindy Connor said that it is disheartening that it took the death of her son, Cody Gumm, for her to realize that something needed to be done about driving restrictions in Kansas. In February 2003, her son, 16 at the time, was the passenger of a car driven by his 16-year-old classmate, who survived. The driver lost control of the car and hit another car head on.
“The more they wait [to pass the bill], the more kids are getting killed,” Conner said.
She has been involved in attempting to pass a graduated driving license system since the death of her son. Connor worked with Rep. Tom Burroughs, (D-Kansas City, Kan.), in attempting to pass the graduating driving license system. Burroughs sought Connor’s input on what she thought should be in the bill. She supports what is in the current bill, SB 294, but she also said she feels a farmer’s driving permit in unnecessary for anyone under 15.
“I’m not getting the same enthusiasm with this bill as I did last year with Burroughs,” she said. “I still am backing it 100 percent though.”
Julie Zule is a parent whose son, Matthew, 14, is in the process of obtaining his instruction permit.
“He doesn’t seem too excited about it,” Zule said. “In other words, he won’t take the time to study the driving manual so I won’t take my time to drive him to the test.”
She said she is worried that the proposed bill would not give enough time for the teenager to be with the parent. Too many laws try to make up for a lack of parenting skills, she said.
“I really do feel that the bill comes from a good place,” she said. “But the reality is just changing the age does not change the experience.”
When it comes to parental responsibility for teenagers caught driving illegally, she said she felt the teenage driver takes too much of the blame. She said that parents should be ultimately responsible in those situations, but she acknowledges that it would be impossible to punish parents if they really did have no control over their child.
There are too many ambiguous situations to punish fairly, she said. “Of all the teen accidents,” she said. “How much was on the parents?”
Lt. John Eichkorn of the Kansas Highway Patrol said that the younger teens are, the more prone they are to take risks because of a general lack of experience and maturity. The Kansas Highway Patrol is supportive of enhancements of laws that would reduce injuries or fatalities, and it feels SB 294 can accomplish just that.
He said the patrol hopes that when the bill is looked at in January’s legislative session it will pass. The patrol is involved with the Driving Force of Kansas, which researches ways on how to reduce the number of wrecks in Kansas.
“After talking with the Driving Force, one result that they came to was to increase the restrictions on driving,” Eichkorn said.
He said that he felt parents should know that a law does exist that addresses the punishment for a person who knowingly allows his or her vehicle to be driven by an underage driver.
“The situation does not happen too often where we confronting the parents,” Eichkorn said. “But parents should know there are consequences for their actions, too.”

It is hard for Guillermo Zorogastua to remember a time when he could act his age. In 1997, when he was 12 and living in Peru, he lived the life of a typical 12-year-old boy—going to school with kids his age, playing with kids his age and being as care free as the other kids his age. When he moved to the United States that same year, he had no idea that 10 years later he would have two undergraduate degrees, a law degree and a job as a lawyer in a prominent law firm.
“I moved here [the U.S.] for family reasons,” Zorogastua said. “All my accelerated schooling just kind of happened with time, or lack there of I guess you could say.”
In September 2006, Zorogastua, 21 at the time, was offered a job at Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy, P.C. in Kansas City, Mo., after interning there the previous summer. He started his new job a business litigator at the firm last month and is making a name for himself in the legal community. Last week, Zorogastua became a member of the board of directors for an organization called KC LEGAL (Kansas City Lesbian and Gay Lawyers). Kansas City lawyers Aaron House and Lana Knedlik established the organization. They said the mission of KC LEGAL is to provide camaraderie and give queer legal professionals identity, community and a voice. Zorogastua jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the organization.
“There is now a group out there that encourages the legal community to open its doors and be more accepting of GLBT [queer] lawyers and the issues we face,” he said. “And I’m glad to be a part of it.”
House and Zorogastua met at Shughart while Zorogastua was working as a clerk at the firm in summer 2006. He said that Zorogastua is passionate about the legal field and he views the law as a tool to help people accomplish goals and to solve their problems.
Zorogastua grew up in Lima, Peru, until the age of 12 when he moved to the United States in 1997. The move did not slow down his academic career, though, and graduated high school in Wichita at the age of 16. A few months later, he began college at Wichita State University. In May 2004, he graduated with a bachelor of arts in political science and a bachelor of science in criminal justice.
He was accepted into KU’s School of Law and earned law degree last May at age 22. And still Zorogastua is not done with his education. He is just a few hours away from earning a bachelor of arts in modern and classical languages and literature from Wichita State.
Todd Rogers, assistant dean/director of the law administration at KU, said Zorogastua was a true professional even in his first year as a law student. He said Zorogastua asked thoughtful, mature questions about his career options and carefully moved toward his career goals.
“I was impressed with how he was able to take such a serious approach to his legal education and job search without ever taking himself too seriously,” he said
Zorogastua said that he finds that most of his peers think that he has missed out on his college years because he spent more time studying than being a typical college student. He said that people cannot grasp the idea that he enjoyed all those late nights studying and writing essays. He simply loves to learn and said it does not matter whether he is learning a foreign language (he is fluent in both English and Spanish and conversationally in Italian), defending someone in a DUI case or going up against a huge corporation, he wants to make every step count in his process of learning.
“Some people like cake. I just like to learn,” he said.
Along with learning how to adjust academically with his peers, Zorogastua also had to learn how to deal with age differences when preparing for his career. He said that at a social event during his internship in summer 2005, he felt that it was not necessary to reveal his underage status to the other lawyers who were drinking socially.
“I didn’t tell them I was like 13,” Zorogastua said jokingly. “But now, at my current job, everyone jokes about the ‘13-year-old at the law firm.’”
He said that even with his age difference, he has always been treated like an equal with people who have the same level of experience. Even though he was ahead of most of his peers academically and now professionally by four or five years, he said he never felt different from people his own age.
Jennifer Bacon, vice president of Shughart and KU alum, has worked at the firm for 35 years. During the process of allocating the new associates, Bacon said she made sure she was going to work with Zorogastua. She said that he had an obvious commitment to excellence from the first day and was a true self-starter. She said that his age was a complete mystery to her at the time.
“It didn’t even cross my mind. Someone had to actually tell me how old he was,” she said. “I remember that I actually said, ‘No way!’ when I found out he was 22.”
Still, when Zorogastua visits his home in Wichita and his four-year-old niece has her friends over to play, he said he typically ends up playing with them. He said he finds it more fulfilling than socializing with his parents and his other adult relatives. He said the adults sometimes joke that because Zorogastua has had an accelerated academic career, he missed out on his childhood and teen years.
“I really don’t feel that way, but I guess you could say that from the way I do certain things,” Zorogastua said. “To be honest, I really don’t think about my age all that much.”

Matt Hirschfeld, 316-258-0172, matt587@ku.edu

Source List

Guillermo Zorogastua, 316-393-1606, gzorogastua@stklaw.com
Todd Rogers, 785-864-9257, tarogers@ku.edu
Lana Knedlik, 816-691-3248, lknedlik@stinson.com
Aaron House, 816-283-4664, aaron.house@husch.com
Jennifer Bacon, 816-421-3355, jbacon@stklaw.com

The Midwest isn’t typically the first area of the U.S. that comes to mind when the topic of plastic surgery comes up, but the body contouring drug Lipodissolve has caused much controversy here in Kansas.

Lipodissolve involves injecting a chemical known as lecithin into areas of the body that are prone to “pudge,” such as excess fat in the chin, torso area and stomach. Essentially, it melts the body fat. However, the compound used in the Lipodissolve, phosphatidylcholine deoxycholate (PCDC), though, has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has not approved the mixture of chemicals that Lipodissolve uses.

Source: www.fig.com

A judge in Topeka recently blocked a regulation by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts (KSBHA), which regulates doctors across Kansas; the regulation would have prevented most doctors from using Lipodissolve. The board approved two exceptions in April 2007 that allowed the drug to be used: First, the drug to be used for clinical research or second, the drug to be compounded for a patient in unique circumstances, such as when no other drug on the market meets the patient’s need. Mark Stafford, general counsel for the KSBHA, said that KSBHA found that the drug was being manufactured under the guise of compounding and imposed the regulation that was eventually overturned by the courts.

The non-approval was not the only issue for Stafford. Stafford said that the lack of medical evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of the drug also concerned the board.

Scott Thellman, a physician at Lawrence Plastic Surgery, does not use the Lipodissolve procedure. He said he heard about the procedure from a doctor from Brazil six years ago at a medical conference. The procedure has been popular in South America and Europe for years, Thellman said, and a few years ago it took off in St. Louis through a company known as fig. and eventually ended up in the Kansas City area. Lipodissolve is a potentially promising procedure, he said, but too many questions remain unanswered.

“I feel we owe it to our patients to continually evaluate new and existing treatments and to offer only those that meet our standards for safety and effectiveness,” he said. “I’m afraid Lipodissolve does not yet meet that standard.”

He said he understands the court’s decision but thinks it is a step back for the medical community.

“I am troubled by the fact that when the medical profession is bold enough to police itself in an attempt to protect the public, we are prevented by the courts from doing so,” Thellman said. He said, however, that if the board did not follow proper procedure in arriving at its regulation, then I can see why the court arrived at its decision.

He is also worried that the marketing has gone past the science for this drug. Do-it-yourself kits with an instructional DVD are available on the Internet for less than $300, Thellman said, and regulators such as the FDA don’t know how to respond.

Some KU students have expressed interest in Lipodissolve as its popularity grows, said Patty Quinlan, head nurse at KU’s Watkins Memorial Health Center. Watkins does not offer the procedure but can provide the students information and direct them to a licensed doctor for further consultation. Quinlan said that even with the non-FDA approval, it’s really the student’s decision.

“If body growth continues, there are always the risks from being overweight, too,” she said. “Students have to weigh their options.”
One student, Jessica Stanley, Olathe senior, does not consider herself overweight to the point of considering a procedure at present day. She is reassured, though, to see that more non-surgical options are out there for her in the future. The fact that the FDA hasn’t approved Lipodissolve does not worry Stanley.

“Because it’s been used in other countries makes me more comfortable with it,” Stanley said. “But the cost is always my biggest concern. Once it becomes cheaper, I’m going for it.”

Lawrence’s ever-growing assisted living population will be breaking ground next spring with a new addition: a sub-acute rehab unit.

A sub-acute rehab unit involves a short term stay for rehabilitating and monitoring patients who do not qualify for a stay in a hospital but aren’t ready to get back to their homes or assisted living environments. It’s a small step from a hospital because hospitals concentrate on intense care but a sub-acute focuses on intense rehabilitation.

Marie Vogel, administrator at Pioneer Ridge health care facility, said that the new sub-acute rehabilitation unit will be an alternative for patients who do not qualify for rehab centers, such as those in hospitals like Lawrence Memorial Hospital. People must qualify to stay in a sub-acute by having a qualifying Medicare stay at a hospital, which involves three midnights at a hospital and a qualifying diagnosis. A diagnosis could be one of hundreds of different diagnoses, Vogel said, but it typically involves having a new joint put in, or a hip put in, or just fall and need to get stronger.

When patients no longer qualify to stay at the hospital, they have limited options if needing to continue rehab for occupational, physical and speech therapy.

“The main goal is to get them back out into the community,” Vogel said. “The community can range from the nursing facility where they came from, or back out to their home.”

The new sub-acute unit will offer services that are more beneficial to patients than Medicare rehab programs, such as oxygen services and private rooms. The new rehab unit will have 18 beds and the stays can last from two days to 100 days, depending on the care needed. The new unit will also create a need for RNs, LPNs, CNAs and physical therapists for around the clock nursing care.

Donovan Lee, social worker for the acute rehab unit at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said that the new sub-acute rehab unit at Pioneer Ridge will be a transition for patients making the move from the hospital to a home or assisted-living environment. At the rehab unit in Lawrence Memorial, patients need to go through three hours of physical therapy at a time. Pioneer Ridge will offer a physical therapy program that will not be as intense for patients making the transition.

Another aspect that sets the new sub-acute unit apart from other programs at assisted living homes across Lawrence is the physiatrist who will be available to patients, Lee said.
“Having a physician who specializes in medicine and rehabilitation makes the new unit invaluable for the assisted-living community,” he said.

The new rehab unit will also benefit other parts of the medical community, such as outpatient care. Judy Bellome, CEO of Douglas County Visiting Nurses Rehabilitation and Hospice Unit, said that individuals who go to a sub-acute rehab unit will benefit more when they return to their home environments and in need of outpatient care.

“I like to think of it as a continuum of care,” Bellome said. “The mission is always to get them back into their homes.”

Katherine Stroute, registered physical therapist for Douglas County Visiting Nurses, said that she has seen patients who have left the hospitals too early because insurance or benefits have run out but still have serious medical problems.

“Some weren’t even able to get out of bed,” Stroute said. “I’ve seen some with gaping wounds who were in need of a doctor, not a nurse.”

She said that she has also sent patients back to the hospital if the problems became life-threatening. Stroute said that the new sub-acute unit would hopefully prevent this from happening and have more serious issues of patients be addressed in Lawrence.

“U.S. News and Politics” magazine recently named Lawrence as one of top 10 places in the United States to retire. Administrators at Pioneer Ridge, such as Debbie Walker, director of assisted living, were surprised at first but she said she can also see why Lawrence would be recognized above other cities.

"It has the slower pace of life, [and] has the high quality with people really taking the time to get to know each other," Walker said. "That can sometimes be missing in the larger cities and it is also supportive on the medical side, which seniors need."