Each semester second year nursing students give up one day where they would normally be working at Anaheim Memorial Hospital to set up booths on campus to teach Cerritos College students about being healthy. Most of the booths were handing out free candy, suckers and condoms to get students to come to their tables

The first booth had a poster that asked students if they knew how to save $120 per month. The answer was to stop smoking. This booth also informed students about the dangers of smoking and passed out information on tuberculosis and lung cancer.

“We are giving students information, telling them what they don’t know,” said student Kiran Patel, nursing student. “Many students don’t know what tuberculosis is.”

Tuberculosis is a disease that attacks a person’s lungs. It is spread when a person who has an active TB virus coughs, sings or spits and another person breathes in the TB germs.

When the TB germs invade the lungs, they can spread to other parts of the body. A TB test will show whether a person has been infected.

Medication is then required to keep a person from getting an active case of TB. Not taking the medication will cause the infected person to transmit the disease to other people.

Patel also said that the disease is preventative today, because there is a vaccine that one can take to prevent being infected.

Students passed out flyers that indicated students could obtain TB tests for $5 and full examinations for $20 at the Health Center on campus.

Another booth showed damage that alcohol can do and effects of alcoholism to a person’s body.

This booth had pictures on poster boards that showed the difference between a normal liver and a cirrhotic liver that had been damaged from too much alcohol.

It also showed how a person looked who suffered from jaundice, a yellowing of the skin, and showed distended bellies of longtime drinkers.

A third booth was decorated with pink balloons, and gave students information on breast cancer and conducting breast self-examinations

This booth had a model of a woman’s chest and people could touch the model to feel what lumps felt like during an examination.

“We’re giving information on how to do a breast self-exam,” student Angela Guillen said.

“We are also giving information on when to do the self exam. The best time is seven days after the start of menstruation.”

Tammy Henderson, another nursing student, added, “We’re also talking about lots of different types of breast cancer. We’re encouraging men to come over, too, because men can get breast cancer, also. They are not aware of that.”

Henderson acknowledged that breast cancer in men is not as deadly as breast cancer in women.

Student Eric Lilja added, “I have seen male patients with breast cancer before.”

Many men feel lumps and are in denial that they can have breast cancer, believing that it is a woman’s disease.

“Men think it is probably not breast cancer. They tell themselves, ‘I’m a male. How can I get breast cancer?’ and then they just let it go,” Lilja continued. “A lump anywhere in your body should always be checked out. Young women also feel like they are totally isolated from getting breast cancer, and we are trying to inform them that they also can get breast cancer.”

The last booth, which handed out condoms, was giving students information on sexually transmitted diseases and how to prevent them.