Inquiring minds

     By Tina Allen
     View staff writer
      Inquisitive minds want to know.
      At least that was the case with a class of fourth-graders from Lummis Elementary School that toured Summerlin Hospital's radiology department.
      "I rollerblade a lot and when my teacher taught us about the muscles, I wondered how many muscles it takes to rollerblade and stuff like that," said 10-year-old Sydney Guier.
      She wasn't given the answer to that question, but she and her classmates did learn people move 62 bones when they take one step, 22 when they nod and 64 when they shrug their shoulders.
      Jack Senseney, the hospital's radiology team leader, said the field trip was to give children a better understanding of their own bodies, what they are made of and what they look like underneath the skin.
      "Everybody sees the skeleton at Halloween, but they don't really know how it all works or how it's hooked together," Senseney said. "In imaging, we know how it's hooked together. We can follow everything there is from bone to bone, ligaments, tendons, muscles. We can follow it all."
      The hospital tour was an extension of fourth-grade teacher Karen Hingtgen's lesson plan. She said her class has been studying the skeletal system and learning the different bone names. They've also been making model legs and thumbs to show how the muscles move and how they are connected to the ligaments and tendons.
      "We came to the radiology department because we wanted to see some of the different X-rays so the kids could identify some of the bones in a real-life situation," said Hingtgen, who has had doctors come to her classroom to lecture in the past.
      For 9-year-old Carly O'Keeffe, the tour made all the difference.
      "I have been studying bones and the human body. It's easier because I can see it here. It's easier than seeing it on a piece of paper," O'Keeffe said.
      Seeing the actual images on film and how they are captured also helped Ashley Kloehn, 9.
      "I never knew we had a bunch of ligaments in our body." Kloehn said.
      Joseph Clifford, 10, also learned something new.
      "There are a lot of bones in your inner ear," he said. "That's where the smallest bones are. I thought the smallest bones were in the hands."
      Senseney led the group of about 30 through various imaging rooms, describing how one machine charted the vascular system and how another only filmed the bones. He explained how MRIs are good for detecting abnormalities in the tissue.
      "Is that a normal chest X-ray?" one pupil asked as they passed by a light board with an X-ray displayed, while others shared their experiences with him about bones they had broken in the past.
      Evan Unick, 9, said he had broken his arm while in-line skating downhill, but didn't feel nervous while getting X-rays taken at the time.
      Senseney said he hoped the field trip would give children more knowledge should they break a bone.
      "You can have a twisted ankle and the bones are not broken and be in more pain than you could ever imagine," he said. "We want them to know that just because it doesn't hurt, it doesn't mean something is not wrong. But when it hurts, it doesn't always mean it's broken."
      Kevin Vilkin, 9, said he didn't particularly like being in a hospital. Nonetheless, he was intrigued by what he saw.
      "The most fascinating thing was when you take a CT scan it shows your eye sockets," Vilkin said. "I didn't know they had things that could show you the eye socket."
      Senseney said he has seen a lot of changes in equipment in the 16 years he has worked in the field because of technological advances.And there are many more to come by the time these children are adults, he said.
      "I don't like Star Trek, but I see that type of a future," Senseney said. "In 10 or 15 years I see a scanner where you can lay on the table and it will scan you and we can get your blood type, we can get tissue matches, we can get all this."