Dr. Michael Ruckenstein, Chief of Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Tennessee - Memphis, explains the new Temporal Bone Laboratory at Methodist Central Hospital in Memphis to some of the officers of the Mid-South Lions Sight and Hearing Service. Mid-South purchased the Lab for the Hospital with the assistance of LCIF for about $150,000. Pictured are (left to right) Dr. Michael Ruckenstein; Lion Brad Baker, Executive Director; Lion Henry Lamb, 2nd Vice President (Mississippi); PDG B.J. Gallamore, President (Tennessee); and PDG Francis Mashburn, 3rd Vice-President (Arkansas).


Mid-South Opens Temporal Bone Laboratory

On Friday, February 28, Mid-South Lions Sight And Hearing Service dedicated the new temporal bone laboratory at the Methodist Hospital in Memphis. The lab will serve as an educational facility to train surgeons in the delicate procedures used in hearing surgery. Because a miscalculation of as little as 3 millimeters can cause facial paralysis, brain damage, damage to the hearing mechanisms in the ear or even death, surgeons must practice operating techniques on the area around the ear in the temporal bone (a part of the skull from the front of the head at the temple to below and behind the ear). The laboratory consists of 9 microscope stations, audio visual components and the fine surgical equipment used in temporal bone surgeries. At a cost of about $150,000, the T Bone lab is a state of the art facility which will be used by otolaryngologists and surgeons from all over the mid-south.

The lab is the final component of the hearing program begun in 1989 during PDG Herb Marshall's term as President of Mid-South. PDG Marshall is a member of the Charleston, MO Lions Club and was the first Missouri Lion to serve as President of the four state organization. Funds for the temporal bone laboratory were provided through a $50,000 grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation (from Arkansas District 7-I) and matching funds from Lions Clubs throughout the mid-south. The total cost of Mid-South s hearing program is $400,000 which provided equipment for the hospital and generated credits that gave patients from Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and west Tennessee over $2 million dollars in service.


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Last Update: April 24, 1997