DMU students are known for their community service. They were out in full force again this fall. Students in the physician assistant program joined Laura Delaney, PA-C, M.P.A.S., assistant professor, to volunteer at and walk in the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Walk on Oct. 1. One week later, as they do annually to honor Pam Harrison Chambers, PA-C’92, M.P.H.’01, associate professor in the PA program and a leukemia survivor, PA students participated in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk and also raised $900 for the cause.
“Pam Chambers is a great mentor and professor, and this is a way that the class can show our appreciation for all the respect that we are given from her as well as our other professors,” says Katrina Enderle, PA’13, PA Club vice president. By participating in the walk, she adds, “we are essentially seeing the other side of a blood cancer in addition to knowing the medicine behind it. I believe this will enable us to take an even stronger empathetic approach to treatment of these patients and other patients that we will work with throughout our career.”
On Sept. 18, more than 75 College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery (CPMS) students and Dean R. Tim Yoho, D.P.M., FACFAS, were among the volunteers and participants at the American Diabetes Association’s Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes in Des Moines. They raised nearly $1,500 for the association as walkers and helped with registration, greeting other walkers, set-up and parking. Step Out is an annual event that this year took place in 135 cities across the country to raise awareness about diabetes and raise funds to help fight the disease.
CPMS students also joined Robert Eells, D.P.M.’93, a podiatric physician with Southridge Foot Clinic in Des Moines, and Judy Reinking, D.P.M.’90, of Algona (IA) Podiatry LLC, at the Special Olympics Iowa MedFest at the University of Iowa on Oct. 1. At the event, Special Olympics athletes received free physical and health screenings.
“It was exciting to see how the third-year students have grown and were able to ‘teach’ their underclassmen, especially the first-years,” says Reinking, a Special Olympics volunteer for several years. “At Medfest, the group saw things such as sprained ankles, heel pain, athlete’s foot, improper footwear and infected ingrown toenails. It was definitely a win-win situation for the athletes and the students.”
Kathy Irving, special programs director at Special Olympics of Iowa, adds, “I can’t say enough about how hard the students worked and even more importantly how well they treated the athletes…They were instrumental in making this day a success.”
