WesternU Volunteers at Kids Health Fair
About 80 WesternU students, faculty, and staff – more than double the contingent that volunteered in 2009 — volunteered their time at the Kids Health Fair at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center’s Family Health Center on Saturday, July 31, 2010.
Pharmacy students provided immunizations, optometry students and faculty performed vision screenings, dental students screened for cavities, and physician assistant students, medical students, and dental students screened for blood pressure.
College of Dental Medicine Assistant Professor Elizabeth Andrews, DDS, MS, organized and scheduled WesternU volunteers for this year’s fair. She became involved because of the Soroptimist Club International.
“”There is great reward to be able to provide a service that many times the patients would not be able to obtain,”” said Andrews. “”Through health fairs, we not only identify health care problems, but we educate and then provide a link for the patient to obtain needed services.””
Students helped provide health care screenings for children 2 months to 18 years old. Many children needed screenings before school started.
Second-year WesternU pharmacy student Diane Le found it a little nerve-wracking to work with children for the first time. She made a strong connection with a 10-month-old girl, playing with her little hands and enticing her to smile before she administered a couple of shots with Yen Myers, PharmD ’13.
Health fairs and community service are a core part of Western University of Health Sciences’ mission, and benefit both the community and students, who build skills professionally and clinically.
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific student Brendon Ross, DO ’13, finds that helping the community with such things as health fairs is one of the reasons why he is pursuing medicine.
“”WesternU’s mission is about constantly helping the community and striving to commit us to that lifelong learning, compassionate, caring, individualistic philosophy that Western stresses,”” said Ross. “”With health fairs, you can really see how much of a community impact Western’s philosophy truly has.””
