Simon Geletta, Ph.D., associate professor in the M.P.H. program, and Carolyn Beverly, M.D., assistant professor in the M.P.H. Program, were awarded a $10,000 grant from the Polk County Community Development Program last year. The funding was granted to increase awareness among the African-American population in Des Moines and the surrounding areas of their risk for high blood pressure. Dr. Geletta and his students have been busy doing just that. At-risk individuals have been screened at local businesses and organizations, including barber shops and churches, and then assisted to find medical attention to prevent and control high blood pressure.
The project is in partnership with local community coalition members including the Iowa Department of Human Rights, Mercy Medical Center – Des Moines and the African American Leadership Council. The Polk County Community Betterment Grant Program was designed to provide financial support to non-profit organizations that provide cultural, recreational, educational and human needs services to the citizens of Polk County, Iowa.
Dr. Geletta also provides leadership to his colleagues by heading, along with Rachel Reimer, Ph.D., the public health area of research emphasis group. Four areas of research emphasis were recently named for DMU; public health, movement science, pedagogy in the health sciences, and cardiology sciences.
To see more details of the involvement of this project in the community and all of the screening locations, visit the Des Moines Register article that was recently published highlighting Geletta’ s project, as well as DMU’s impact in the community.
