The University’s annual DMU Day at the Fair is the rare opportunity for the public to experience osteopathic manual medicine (OMM) within a horseshoe’s throw of corn dogs, country singers and miniature ponies.
On the first Sunday of the Iowa State Fair, Des Moines University hosts a booth along the grand concourse and offers OMM treatments and fun DMU-themed freebies. This year, the doctor of physical therapy program also had a presence in the afternoon.
DMU Day offered hands-on experience for our students and the opportunity to share the University’s tradition of medical education and clinical excellence with the public. The DMU booth’s proximity to the Des Moines Register Soapbox also meant that in this Iowa caucus year, students were able to literally feel the pulse of voters and presidential candidates, as Jason Pedersen, D.P.T.’17, did for Republican hopeful Ben Carson, M.D.
This Des Moines University student just took Ben Carson’s pulse pic.twitter.com/UTfLeCRq32
— Rebecca Berg (@rebeccagberg) August 16, 2015
“Dr. Carson was speaking just beside the DMU tent, and after his speech he stopped by for a quick health screen. I volunteered to take his vital signs, and my classmate Katie Raska [D.P.T.’17] performed a gross muscle test,” Pedersen says. “Needless to say, manually taking a presidential candidate’s blood pressure with several cameras in a loud tent made me a little nervous, but everything went well. I’m glad I got a chance to represent DMU.”
This year’s OMM participants included sisters whose late father, C.E. Worster, graduated from DMU in 1935. The women raved about the students’ treatment and said they look forward to their fair experience as an opportunity to remember their father’s medical practice.
Through a partnership with Farm Bureau, DMU is also able to offer health screenings on two other days during the fair.
