PA Students with Faculty Members Jonathan Baird and Tyler Sommer
Yesterday, 16 PA students and two faculty members from our PA program participated in Islamic Relief USA’s Day of Dignity event at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City. The event, also hosted by United in Service for Humanity brought more than 200 Utah residents from more than 25 local organizations together to provide various services and referrals for refugees and homeless and underserved people in the area.
RMUoHP PA students volunteered with other medical professionals to provide glucose and blood pressure screening, as well as nutrition education for those in attendance. One student even helped translate for some Spanish-speaking participants. All in all, it was a rewarding experience that these students will not likely forget!
Here’s what our students had to say about the experience:
“I’m happy that we were able to help out the community while staying true to our University and class mission of Service.” Jesse Golodner
“It was great to see the entire area come together to make it a successful day for people in need. My favorite aspect of this event is that we were able to interact with people who are in need, and we were able to put smiles on their faces.” Mike Cheesman
“This was a very humbling experience to serve the homeless. Almost all the people that I tested glucose on had diabetes. It was great to learn and use my skills on real people.” Annaliese Prusse
RMUoHP PA students assembling health information packets to distribute to attendees[/caption]
“It was great to interact with other health care professionals and students and community members and represent Rocky Mountain University. I’m looking forward to our University participating in coming years. I had the opportunity to teach several people about living healthier lives and as I did, I incorporated much of what I learned in class a few weeks ago to better connect with and teach the people I saw.” Lauren Stanford
“We found a patient through the screening that had stage 2 hypertension and a blood glucose level of 586! We arranged transportation to the local emergency room. Hopefully because of this she avoided DKA or death.” Carrie Davidson
“Such a cool experience to help improve the quality of life of others and learn new skills or practice old skills at the same time. It was a good atmosphere full of positive energy with everyone eager to help. I was glad to bring my husband along so he too could serve those in need in the Salt Lake City area because there are so many!” Kaitlin Cox
“I was talking with one man and he was asking about Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions. I informed him that it was located in Provo, Utah and he was just so surprised that we would want to travel an hour to come help him. It really touched me because it helped me to remember that small gifts of time on my part show a lot of love towards someone who probably isn’t used to having people care about him. I loved the experience because it brought everything I am learning in the classroom to life. There are people now that match what I am learning in my textbooks.” Jordan Lythgoe
Kathleen Grabowski checking glucose for a patient
“Great experience. This was very humbling. I was impressed to see so many people who were living without a lot of “necessities” who were still so worried about their health. It goes to show that everyone worries about their health, no matter what other they face daily and a little reassurance can be very comforting. When talking with an older gentleman, he told me that a simplistic life, void of conglomeration of material distractions, is a happy stress free life. I can see a lot of truth to that. Many of the patients expressed how hungry they were and were extremely protective of their belongings, worried that they might get stolen. In general, everyone was happy to receive care. It offered reciprocity as I felt humbled to assist and desired to help even more.” Jesse Perkins
